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Pelham Smithers Associates
Pelham Smithers Associates is a leading English language independent research provider covering the Japanese stock market. We focus primarily on Japanese manufacturing – TMT, autos, pharma, and machinery – and on internet plays and video games. We also write on market strategy.
Founded in 2009, Pelham Smithers Associates has steadily built up a blue chip institutional stock investing client base as paying readers of its research. We are fortunate in having benefited from word of mouth recommendations. We are recognised by our clients as a go-to provider of in-depth analysis and explanation of new technologies emanating from Japan and the impact of these on both Japanese companies and companies globally.
One of the firm’s founders, Pelham Smithers, is a world expert on consumer technology trends and appears regularly in the financial media. Another, Julie Boote, is a high-profile commentator on automotive technology, having started her career at Ford Motor. In aggregate, our research team has accrued over a hundred years of knowledge while carrying out Japanese equity research.
PSA produces both company and sector reports. These tend to focus on the manufacturing technologies at the core of companies’ endeavours. We aim to identify the winners and losers as new technologies come to impact the top and bottom lines of corporations. Central to PSA research is clear explanation of how these new technologies work and how they affect both companies and industries. While our primary focus is on Japanese equity research, our approach enables us to discover investment opportunities outside of Japan.
PSA also produces widely read daily and weekly commentary. Our daily tends to pick up on the development of themes previously identified in PSA reports. The PSA weekly summarises recently produced reports and collates the daily commentary plus analysts’ additional short comments, week by week.
PSA’s clients include globally-renowned mutual funds as well as smaller, even start-up, specialist investment advisors.
PSA research is available on Factset, Thomson Reuters, S&P Capital IQ, Bloomberg (PSAZ), RSRCHX and Research Pool. Research can also be sent by PSA’s sales team email to PMs and analysts.
If you would like to discuss terms for research provision to your firm by Pelham Smithers Associates, kindly contact Co-Founder James Ford, either by email, at james@pelhamsmithers.com, or by calling +44 (0)1548 857358.
Weekly News
The Must Read PSA Weekly Research Round-Up
Sept 11
Highlights this week: Hitachi has developed a symbiosis between its main AI product, Lumada, & its Energy and Mobile divisions, which is generating a positive feedback loop between the three. Furthermore, the Energy business is in hyperdrive, because not only is it being revolutionized by AI, but demand for its energy grid services is also booming because of AI. Pelham reviews the outlook and updates his earnings model. Meanwhile, Lindsay looks at the IT Service sector which showed stronger sales growth than margin improvement….
Sept 04
Highlights this week: A constituent of the PSA 2026 Q3 Focus List, small-cap software solutions firm Fixstars disappointed the market with a weaker FY26 Q3 than hoped for. However, in his latest update, analyst Pelham notes that the underlying growth remains impressive. Its involvement in the Qualcomm robotics centre project should help address a key issue we have with the firm, which is awareness in the business community. Also Pelham discusses the impact on earnings from Hitachi’s expanding offerings in its HMAX range of services…..
Aug 21
Highlights this week: Advanced materials analyst Nicky provides details of several key technological developments discussed at the IEEE’s [Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers] Hot Interconnects Conference. Of note was Meta’s AI networking architecture and photonic computing firm Lightmatter's insights on the vital role photonics plays in scale-up systems. Lindsay reports back on her email exchange with ExaWizards discussing the sharp drop in the FY26 Q1 GPM and what to expect going forward.
Aug 14
Highlights this week: With the bulk of results out of the way, analyst Pelham assesses the big picture for Japan’s gaming stocks, highlighting his top picks and noting which firms he remains negative on. Also in this note is a recap of the recent results comments. Internet Initiative Japan has reported its FY26 (Mar yr-end) Q1 results. With the market likely shifting focus to the significant sales beat and the surge in System Integration orders, Lindsay reviews the Q1 performance and outlook for the full year.........
Aug 07
Highlights this week: Pelham reviews Capcom’s excellent FY26 Q1 performance, assesses the outlook to FY28 and has raised his forecasts. He also reviews the FY26 Q1 performance of Bandai Namco and Nintendo, both of which reported results this week and raises key questions for the full-year and beyond. Meanwhile, the last five (Nissan, Honda, Mitsubishi Motors, Toyota, Mazda) Japanese automakers have released their FY26 Q1 results, Julie reviews their performance for the full year ………………
Jul 31
Highlights this week: Julie previews Toyota’s FY26 Q1 results which look set to be boosted by the currency. However, she explains why she does not anticipate an upward revision to the full-year. Meanwhile Konami’s Q1 performance smashed consensus estimates but the firm left the full-year guidance unchanged, as Pelham notes that the shares are still below last year’s. Lindsay looks at NEC as they raised its full-year FY26 guidance on a consensus busting Q1 and notes that this is a strong start for the year......
Reports
We produce 5 types of research – PSA Today is our daily product, that focuses on the companies and sectors PSA analysts cover. It is integral to our evolving research and is a vehicle for analysts to confirm or change their investment views. PSA Weekly highlights what the PSA team has produced in the week. It summarises PSA’s published reports; contains analysts’ key company / sector comments; and includes a weekly strategy comment. It is also where the team likes to signpost their ideas for the week to come. In-depth Company provides detailed analysis of individual companies. Company Update are the follow up to the reports we have written. In-depth Sector provides a detailed analysis of the sectors our analysts cover.
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Weekly Comment
by Pelham Smithers
Anyone looking for evidence of demand side decline for semiconductors will be disappointed by the latest data from TSMC. Pelham Smithers tells us why………………….