Sanrio Company, Ltd. <8136> - Surged on relief from negative sentiment. Following the company's announcement after the close on May 29 that it had received an investigation report from a special committee regarding suspected improper compensation received by an executive managing director, buying emerged on the view that the overhang had cleared. The case involved payments totaling approximately 252.3 million yen received by the executive, who concurrently served as CEO of a U.S. subsidiary, directly from that subsidiary. These payments were separate from compensation determined by the company's Nomination and Compensation Advisory Committee. Sanrio stated that these amounts had already been recorded as expenses by the U.S. subsidiary in their respective fiscal years, and no falsehoods were confirmed in the consolidated results or the subsidiary's performance. For the fiscal year ending March 2027, the impact of investigation costs and other expenses is expected to be minimal.

Asterisk Inc. <6522> - Drew buying interest in the afternoon session and hit the daily limit-up. Around noon, the company announced that its new smartphone-attachable barcode reader, AsReader Slim Type (ASR-025S2), has been adopted at 445 stores of AOYAMA TRADING Co., Ltd. <8219>, a move viewed as a positive catalyst. AOYAMA TRADING had been using smartphone built-in cameras for customer-service inventory checks. While convenient, the built-in cameras required focusing on each item individually on-screen, making them unsuitable for large-scale scanning operations like inventory counting involving thousands of consecutive products. Consequently, the retailer previously deployed separate handheld terminals during inventory periods, but those dedicated devices were bulky, heavy, and required specialized training, posing a significant cost burden. The AsReader Slim Type was selected to address these challenges.

Sansan, Inc. <4443> - Strengthened its upward momentum. The company announced on Monday that it concluded a sales agency agreement with Daiwabo Information System (DIS), a subsidiary of Daiwabo Holdings Co.,Ltd. <3107>, for its Bill One accounting digital transformation (DX) service, fueling buying interest. Under the agreement, sales partners contracted with DIS will be able to provide Bill One. Sansan plans to accelerate the nationwide rollout of Bill One by leveraging DIS's network of 112 domestic locations and approximately 19,000 regional sales partners.

inspec Inc. <6656> - Hit its daily limit-up, continuing to touch fresh highs. Buying interest in the semiconductor sector expanded beyond major names like Kioxia Holdings into small- and mid-cap stocks. Among them, inspec, which manufactures visual inspection equipment for semiconductor package substrates, is seeing a strong tailwind from the AI data center construction boom. "Demand for higher quality in package substrates has intensified due to advancing semiconductor chip performance, and speculation over expanding final-stage inspection opportunities is driving the stock," said a strategist at a mid-tier brokerage. Supply-demand dynamics are also supporting the stock. Despite its ultra-small-cap status with a market capitalization below 5 billion yen, the stock enjoys high liquidity, attracting short-term traders. With margin positions tightly balanced, Japan Securities Finance Co. imposed stock lending restrictions as of May 22 due to a severe share shortage, triggering short-covering and boosting the stock.

NORITAKE CO., LIMITED <5331> - Temporarily hit its daily limit-up to reach an all-time high. Activist fund Strategic Capital recently submitted a shareholder proposal pressuring the company to review unprofitable businesses, including its core tableware unit. While management opposes the proposal, market attention is focused on both the June 25 annual shareholders meeting and the company's potential as a materials manufacturer. As electronic component stocks gain traction on expectations of surging demand for multilayer ceramic capacitors (MLCCs) in AI data centers, NORITAKE attracted inflows as an MLCC materials supplier, accelerating its rally.

Tri Chemical Laboratories Inc. <4369> - Surged with a gap up to hit fresh highs in one move. After the close on Friday, May 29, the company announced its first-quarter consolidated results, reporting sales of 7,488 million yen (up 14.0% year-on-year) and net profit of 1,855 million yen (up 53.6% year-on-year), triggering investor buying. Earnings benefited from growing data center investment driven by generative AI in the semiconductor industry, its primary client base, alongside sustained spending on advanced logic and memory applications. Cost reductions, price revisions, and equity-method investment gains from its South Korean affiliate also lifted results.

*This may contain unconfirmed information. Please make your own decisions regarding stock trading based on your own responsibility.

Source: MINKABU PRESS

*Translated by generative AI. Click here for the original article.