Why is Mitsui Kinzoku stock falling today?

Mitsui Kinzoku's stock price dropped by 6.6% to ¥1,636.5 on Wednesday due to a revised full-year earnings guidance that did not satisfy market expectations. Although the company reported a strong first-half operating profit of ¥57.5 billion on November 10, a 44.7% increase year-over-year, the revised full-year forecast was raised only to ¥99 billion, which is roughly ¥10 billion lower than analyst predictions.

This substantial drop implies a 24.4% decline in annual operating profit compared to the previous year. The market's response was further exacerbated by the structure of the guidance revision: while the first-half result was strong, the second-half outlook was revised downwards, signaling a weaker back half of the fiscal year. Additionally, the company announced a positive dividend policy change, increasing its DOE target from 3.5% to 4.0% and raising the annual dividend forecast from ¥28 to ¥32 per share.

However, the lack of a share buyback announcement and the overall consensus miss overshadowed these shareholder-friendly measures. Peer Sumitomo Metal Mining also experienced selling pressure on the same day due to similar earnings-related concerns, indicating a broad scrutiny of the non-ferrous metals sector. The Nikkei 225 index, on the other hand, rose by 0.8% on Wednesday, driven by a rebound in tech and AI shares.