‘Tourist Investors’ Have Been Punishing Japan’s Earnings Misses

  • Comgest sees ‘a lot of first-time buyers of Japanese equity’
  • Disappointing results leading to bigger stock drops: JPMorgan

Longtime local players remain wary of how long the “tourists” will stay in the market.

Photographer: Noriko Hayashi/Bloomberg
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Recent Japanese earnings reports have been notable for worse-than-usual selloffs in companies that miss expectations. To veteran market players, it’s a telltale sign of an influx of “tourist investors.”

Companies that missed analyst forecasts since the start of the current fiscal year in April have seen share-price drops of about 6%, two percentage points more than the average over the past 10 years, according to analysis by Rie Nishihara, chief Japan equity strategist at JPMorgan Chase & Co. In contrast, reactions to beats have been in line with the historical average, she said.