Japan SMID Monitor: CY2026 AGM season takeaways

Research evidence excerpt

Japan SMID Monitor: CY2026 AGM season takeaways

Portfolio Strategy Research

8 July 2026 | 5:38PM JST

In this month’s edition of the Japan SMID Monitor, we focus on the 2026 AGM Bruce Kirk, CFA

+81(3)4587-9950 | bruce.kirk@gs.com

season trends within Japan SMID universe versus the larger cap space. One Goldman Sachs Japan Co., Ltd.

conclusion is that Japan SMID stocks currently appear to be under slightly more Julius Chan

shareholder pressure versus their larger cap peers. Just over 15% of Japan SMIDs +81(3)4587-1789Goldman Sachs Japan| julius.chan@gs.comCo., Ltd.

have CEO approval ratings below 80% (Exhibit 7), compared with less than 10% for

companies with 6M ADTV over US$20mn. However, in terms of overall average

approval rating changes over time (Exhibit 5) and inter-quartile ranges (Exhibit 6),

there appears to be very little difference between the two data-sets. Historically,

CEO approval IQRs were significantly higher with Japan SMID stocks (Exhibit 6), but

this difference largely disappeared in CY2026. After peaking in CY2024 at over 11%

(versus just 7% for the more liquid universe), the SMID CEO approval IQR fell 2ppts to

9% by CY2026, while the more liquid universe’s CEO Approval IQR has risen 2ppts to

the same 9% level.

n Tech Hardware, Industrials and Inbound Tourism out-performed IT Services

in GS Japan coverage universe: The best-performing SMID names in June

covered by GS Japan analysts included Taiyo Yuden (+37% mom), Japan

Material (+25% mom), Kyoritsu Maintenance (+21% mom) and Kotobuki

Spirits (+19% mom). The two worst-performers were ANYCOLOR (-22% mom),

and Cover Corp (-14%).

n Japan SMID thematic and sub-sector index data showed that Financials led

in June while Software lagged: The best-preforming indices last month were