Critical Comparison: Japan Tob (JAPAY) versus Its Peers

Japan Tob (OTCMKTS:JAPAY) is one of 168 publicly-traded companies in the “Diversified Consumer Services” industry, but how does it contrast to its competitors? We will compare Japan Tob to similar companies based on the strength of its earnings, institutional ownership, dividends, profitability, analyst recommendations, valuation and risk.

Volatility & Risk

Japan Tob has a beta of 0.27, indicating that its share price is 73% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Japan Tob’s competitors have a beta of 0.48, indicating that their average share price is 52% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Japan Tob and its competitors’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Japan Tob	N/A	N/A	N/A
Japan Tob Competitors	-2.19%	-38.88%	2.98%

Dividends

Japan Tob pays an annual dividend of $0.50 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.3%. Japan Tob pays out 36.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. As a group, “Diversified Consumer Services” companies pay a dividend yield of 5.6% and pay out 44.9% of their earnings in the form of a dividend.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

48.1% of shares of all “Diversified Consumer Services” companies are held by institutional investors. 19.8% of shares of all “Diversified Consumer Services” companies are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Japan Tob and its competitors top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Japan Tob	$23.20 billion	$3.42 billion	15.81
Japan Tob Competitors	$3.21 billion	$218.13 million	16.51

Japan Tob has higher revenue and earnings than its competitors. Japan Tob is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than its competitors, indicating that it is currently more affordable than other companies in its industry.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current recommendations and price targets for Japan Tob and its competitors, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Japan Tob	1	1	1	0	2.00
Japan Tob Competitors	1368	3358	5239	186	2.42

Japan Tob currently has a consensus target price of $17.00, indicating a potential downside of 21.50%. As a group, “Diversified Consumer Services” companies have a potential upside of 54.74%. Given Japan Tob’s competitors stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Japan Tob has less favorable growth aspects than its competitors.

Summary

Japan Tob competitors beat Japan Tob on 10 of the 15 factors compared.

Japan Tob Company Profile

Japan Tobacco Inc., a tobacco company, manufactures and sells tobacco products, pharmaceuticals, and processed foods in Japan and internationally. The company operates through three segments: Tobacco Business, Pharmaceutical, and Processed Food. It offers tobacco products, such as cigarettes, heat-not-burn tobacco products, E-vapor products, fine cut tobacco products, cigars, pipes, smokeless tobacco products, and hookah and kretek products. The company also provides reduced-risk products, including infused tobacco capsules and heated tobacco sticks. In addition, it researches and develops, manufactures, and sells prescription drugs for the therapeutic areas, such as cardiovascular, kidney and metabolism, immunity/inflammation, and central nervous system. Further, the company provides frozen and room-temperature products, such as frozen udon noodles, packed rice, and frozen okonomiyaki; bakery products; and seasonings, including yeast extracts, assembled, kelp and bonito extracts, and oyster sauces. It offers its products under the Winston, Camel, MEVIUS, and LD brands. Japan Tobacco Inc. was incorporated in 1985 and is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan.