Source: Reproduces the target criteria implied by the Tokyo Stock Exchange's request on "management conscious of cost of capital and stock price" (2023)
PBR below 1x, combined with low ROE and a cash-rich balance sheet: exactly the profile the Tokyo Stock Exchange is pressuring to improve capital efficiency. These names are more likely to see catalysts such as dividend hikes, buybacks, or unwinding of cross-shareholdings — conditions activist investors also favor.
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Data comes from annual securities reports disclosed on EDINET (Japan FSA). Price-related values are as of each company's fiscal year-end (back-calculated from the disclosed trailing PER), not live quotes. Coverage: all TSE-listed companies, with names added progressively.
Market cap divided by net assets. At 1.0x the share price equals the book liquidation value; below 1.0x, the arithmetic says breaking the company up and distributing its assets would yield more than its market cap. Book value is measured at historical cost, though, and captures neither unrealized gains on land nor intangibles like brand — so trading below 1.0x does not automatically mean cheap (in structurally declining industries it is the norm). It is also the central metric in the Tokyo Stock Exchange's 2023 reform request. (Source: Standard financial ratio (central metric of the Tokyo Stock Exchange's 2023 request on "management conscious of cost of capital and stock price"))
Net income divided by shareholders' equity — the central profitability metric for how much a company earns on the money shareholders put in. In Japan 8% has been a common bar since the Ito Review (2014). Note that thinner equity (i.e. more debt) mechanically raises the figure, so without reading it alongside the equity ratio it is easy to mistake leverage for earning power. (Source: Standard financial ratio (the 8% bar comes from the Ito Review, Japan METI, 2014))
Net cash exceeds market cap (ratio of 1.0+) — in theory, you'd get change back after buying the whole company.