Several investors have been looking favorably at Japanese stocks in the past few months, and market strategist Matt Orton is no exception. “Japan overall, has been a fantastic market … Japan was the top performer within the Asian equity market complex,” the chief market strategist at asset management firm Raymond James Investment Management told CNBC’s ” Squawk Box Asia ” on April 1. Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index is up nearly 20% year to date. The stronger performance of Japanese equities follows the Tokyo Exchange Group’s push for reforms last year. One stock that stands out to Orton is Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group . “What I really like about it, is the fact that you have, finally, interest rates increasing in the country — that’s going to benefit financials, broadly speaking, but Sumitomo has an asset management business that’s levered to other parts of the world, not just Japan,” he said. “They also have a number of investments that they’ve made over the past decade, that you’re finally starting to see good return on coming forward,” Orton added. The company recently outlined its plans to become a “top-tier player in each country by enhancing [its] business platform through post-merger integration including additional investments: capital support, governance framework enhancement, and business collaboration.” Countries it is looking at keenly include Indonesia, India, Vietnam and the Philippines. Shares in Sumitomo are up around 62.2% in the last 12 months. Of the 14 analysts covering the stock, 10 give it a buy or overweight rating, while four have a hold rating, according to FactSet data. Analysts’ average price target for the stock is 9,537.50 Japanese yen ($62.89), giving it around 11% potential upside.
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