AI speculation + Interojo + CTOS Digital
I hope you’re all having a great summer. The Wall Street Journal published a great article about the sentiment on the ground in South Korea and Taiwan, how seemingly everyone is speculating on AI stocks. A young woman in Korea says that 80% of people in her social circle are now actively investing, as are her co-workers. An elementary school teacher in Korea has put all his money into leveraged ETFs tracking semiconductor stocks. Partly explaining why SK Hynix has tripled since early April.
In today’s email:
Watchlist update
Worth your time
CTOS Digital
This is another free-to-read edition of Asian Century Stocks – a newsletter about Asian value stocks. New to the publication? Sign up here. If you don’t want to receive these free weekly updates, you can adjust your e-mail preferences here.
Watchlist update
Top performers: Café de Coral rose sharply on better-than-expected second-half results and a new share buyback, but the same-store sales remains weak. Largan Precision has become a Taiwanese meme stock after it has announced an entry into optical interconnects for AI servers. Gig platform Timee and Precision Tsugami both reported strong results, with top-line growth >20%.
Worst performers: Hartalega and Top Glove both declined as the glove rally unwound, with negative analyst commentary. G8 Education reported weak occupancy numbers, down 7 percentage points year-on-year. Nitori continues to show slow growth due to the weak Japanese Yen. And finally, Japanese roll-up GENDA reported a first-quarter loss as its North American segment underperformed.
Other events from the watch list:
Myopia treatment center EuroEyes announced that it’s eyeing a “very substantial acquisition”
Hong Kong real estate agent Midland Holdings offered a positive profit alert, signaling a further recovery in Hong Kong real estate
Ajinomoto Malaysia‘s parent offered to take it private at MYR 20/share, valuing the company in the high teens P/E
There was a $34,000 insider purchase in Korean contact lens maker Interojo. In June 2026, the company received final FDA clearance for its proprietary silicone hydrogel contact lenses, allowing it to expand in the US with a new, higher-margin product. The stock trades at 7x P/E.
Worth your time
Short-seller Jim Chanos argued in a recent interview that the current market environment is more extreme than during the Dotcom bubble. He sees unprecedented capital raises in 2026, sucking liquidity from the market, and selling pressure once lock-ups expire.
Counterpoint Asian Macro Fund’s Geoffrey Barker thinks liquidity is about to tighten and that AI capex is probably excessive at this point. He sees value in North Asian currencies, but he doesn’t expect their exchange rates to rise unless local interest rates rise or US equities start to decline.
JII Compounders wrote about the Japanese legal-media platform Asiro. It operates a host of legal-help websites that also connect people to lawyers. It’s enjoyed 40% annual revenue growth over the past five years. The main bear case is that generative AI will capture a larger share of search queries. However, he argues that people will still need to hire a lawyer, and that’s the true intent of visiting Asiro’s websites. The stock trades at P/E 12x.
Tiger Thesis wrote an excellent post on Indonesian filter maker Selamat Sempurna (SMSM IJ). It produces filters and radiators, recurring-revenue products used in heavy-duty trucks and mining equipment worldwide. Tiger Thesis believes Selamat Sempurna will benefit from the upcoming B50 biodiesel regulation, as biofuel wears out filters more quickly. The stock trades at 8x P/E.
Ennismore Global Smaller Companies Fund mentioned NICE Information Service (030190 KS) in its latest May 2026 investor update. They argue that the stock has been weighed down by macro factors, including higher interest rates than before 2022. There’s also been concern about the threat posed by generative AI. However, Ennismore thinks NICE is protected through proprietary data and regulatory barriers. The stock trades at 7.7x EV/NOPAT.
CTOS Digital
Yesterday, I published notes from a call with CTOS Digital’s new CEO, Ankur Sehgal. CTOS is Malaysia’s largest credit bureau and owns the “CTOS Score”, which you can think of as Malaysia’s equivalent to the FICO Score. The stock trades at a run-rate P/E of 15x.
The real question is whether the strategy under the new CEO will change. Here’s what I found: LINK.
Disclaimer: This article constitutes the author’s personal views and is for entertainment and educational purposes only. It is not to be construed as financial advice in any shape or form. Please do your own research and seek your own advice from a qualified financial advisor. From time to time, the author might hold positions in the below-mentioned stocks consistent with the views and opinions expressed in this article. This is a disclosure, not a recommendation to buy or sell stocks.