Is Mizuho Financial Group, Inc. (MFG) the Best Japanese Stock to Buy in 2025?

Yahoo

15-02-2025

We recently compiled a list of the . In this article, we are going to take a look at where Mizuho Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:MFG) stands against the other Japanese stocks.
As the dangers of natural disasters increase and the expenses of social security continue to rise, the International Monetary Fund says Japan has to take quick action to strengthen its fiscal situation. The IMF's warning comes as Japan increases spending to meet a wide range of requirements, from initiatives to improve the birth rate to strengthening national security. This occurs concurrently with its borrowing costs gradually increasing due to rate rises by the Bank of Japan in the past year. Japan already has the highest amount of public debt of any major country. According to a Finance Ministry estimate released this January, the nation's debt payment expenses are expected to increase by 25% by fiscal year 2028 compared to the previous year, assuming a 3% annual economic growth rate and 2% inflation. Overall, the IMF forecasts that Japan's public debt will be 232.7% of GDP this year. In addition, at its January 24 meeting, the Bank of Japan voted to boost interest rates to 0.50%, the highest level in seventeen years. The current approach comes after decades of the BOJ's efforts to normalize interest rates. Despite the increasing balance sheet risk, the bank may be pushed to hike interest rates further if it observes a "virtuous cycle" of rising prices and rising wages, with board member Naoki Tamura stating that raising short-term interest rates to "at least around 1%" by the second half of fiscal year 2025 is "necessary".
According to a Statistics Bureau of Japan estimate, average household expenditure in Japan in December was 352,633 yen ($2,332), up 7% in nominal terms from the previous year. In addition, Reuters revealed that Japanese household spending rose year-over-year in December 2024 for the first time in five months, and at a far faster rate than expected. However, the Japanese government notes that it was premature to call a bottoming out in the decreasing trend in consumption. Consumer expenditure also grew 2.7% in the same month compared to the previous year, above the median market forecast of 0.5% growth.
The current environment around Japanese markets is one of concern and relief, especially after U.S. President Donald Trump announced tariffs on steel and aluminum imports. Trump's threats to impose retaliatory tariffs on "everyone" have served as a harsh reminder of the dangers that all of America's trading partners, including Japan, face. With Trump aiming to reduce his country's trade imbalance with Japan, Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba pledged to purchase more American LNG and disclosed plans for manufacturers such as Toyota and Isuzu Motors to invest more in the United States at their summit meeting on February 7. Homin Lee, senior macro strategist at Lombard Odier in Singapore, had the following to say about the meeting:
"The friendly tone and substance of the summit, especially in regard to Japan's high profile investment in the U.S. steel sector, should provide a modest relief to Japanese investors.'
For this list, we compiled a list of US-listed Japanese stocks using stock screeners. We then chose the best Japanese stocks based on overall hedge fund sentiment toward each stock. We have assessed the hedge fund sentiment from Insider Monkey's database of 900 elite hedge funds tracked as of the end of the third quarter of 2024. The list is arranged in ascending order of the number of hedge fund holders in each company.
Why are we interested in the stocks that hedge funds pile into? The reason is simple: our research has shown that we can outperform the market by imitating the top stock picks of the best hedge funds. Our quarterly newsletter's strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 275% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 150 percentage points (see more details here).
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Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 11
The parent company of Mizuho Bank, Mizuho Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:MFG) is a bank holding company that offers retail banking, corporate banking, investment banking, and asset management services.
Mizuho Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:MFG) reported a notable increase in key financial measurements in its earnings report for the third quarter of 2024. The company's ordinary income climbed by 14.8% to JPY 7,073,521 million, ordinary profits increased by 27.6% to JPY 1,126,538 million, and profit attributable to parent shareholders increased by an impressive 33.1% to JPY 855,374 million. In addition, Mizuho's earnings per share grew from JPY 253.41 in the previous year to JPY 337.64.
Mizuho Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:MFG) took a minority stake in Golub Capital, a U.S private lending company, back in late 2024. With this move, Mizuho will not only strengthen its place in the credit markets business in the U.S., but also become the first shareholder of a private credit asset management firm in the country.
According to Insider Monkey's database for Q3 2024, 11 hedge funds held a stake in Mizuho Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:MFG).
Overall MFG ranks 8th on our list of the best Japanese stocks to buy. While we acknowledge the potential of MFG as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that certain AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns, and doing so within a shorter timeframe. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than MFG but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the .
READ NEXT: 20 Best AI Stocks To Buy Now and Complete List of 59 AI Companies Under $2 Billion in Market Cap.
Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.