Aggressive Crypto And AI Expansion Will Trigger Margin Erosion

Key Takeaways

• Expansion into advanced technologies and aggressive investments create growth potential but expose SBI Holdings to higher compliance costs, operational risks, and earnings volatility.
  
• Sustainability of recent financial performance is uncertain due to competitive pressures, execution risks in new ventures, and possible over-optimism in market share projections.
  
• Diversified profit growth, successful strategic alliances, and technology investments position SBI Holdings for sustained earnings momentum and strong long-term expansion across multiple business segments.

Catalysts

Engages in the online securities and investment businesses in Japn and Saudi Arabia.

• The company's aggressive expansion into advanced technologies-such as digital assets, stablecoins, blockchain, and AI-appears to be fueling high growth expectations; however, increased regulatory scrutiny and uncertain legislative frameworks for cryptocurrencies and stablecoins in Japan and globally could result in sharply higher compliance costs and operational risk, potentially compressing future net margins and heightening earnings volatility.
  
• Despite robust current performance, SBI's continued investments and large capital commitments to new funds, neo-media ventures, and global partnerships may be driving excessive optimism regarding future revenue growth; these new businesses carry execution risks and may dilute group-wide profitability if not successfully scaled, potentially impacting long-term group net margins.
  
• Investors may be pricing in the notion that strong recent asset management performance can be sustained, but ongoing industry-wide fee compression, competitive pressure from passive products, and short-term mark-to-market valuation swings could limit sustainable revenue and earnings growth from this segment.
  
• Current valuations could be reflecting overly optimistic assumptions about customer growth driven by digital transformation and fintech adoption initiatives-such as alliances with NTT, au Jibun Bank, and others-yet the rise of digital-native competitors and shifting customer loyalties may erode future market share and exert downward pressure on both revenues and margins.
  
• The company's reliance on positive revaluations and realized gains from PE and crypto-related investments for outsized quarterly profits may not be repeatable in the future; as earnings normalize and asset volatility persists, future profitability and return on equity could fall short of present expectations, impacting long-term earnings stability.

SBI Holdings Future Earnings and Revenue Growth

Assumptions

• Analysts are assuming SBI Holdings's revenue will decrease by 0.5% annually over the next 3 years.
• Analysts assume that profit margins will shrink from 14.5% today to 11.8% in 3 years time.
• Analysts expect earnings to reach ¥181.2 billion (and earnings per share of ¥583.21) by about August 2028, down from ¥225.4 billion today. However, there is a considerable amount of disagreement amongst the analysts with the most bullish expecting ¥228.2 billion in earnings, and the most bearish expecting ¥135.0 billion.
• In order for the above numbers to justify the analysts price target, the company would need to trade at a PE ratio of 14.6x on those 2028 earnings, up from 8.7x today. This future PE is lower than the current PE for the JP Capital Markets industry at 15.5x.
• Analysts expect the number of shares outstanding to grow by 0.32% per year for the next 3 years.
• To value all of this in today's terms, we will use a discount rate of 11.02%, as per the Simply Wall St company report.

SBI Holdings Future Earnings Per Share Growth

Risks

• Record high Q1 revenues and profits, quadrupled net profit year-on-year, and a significantly elevated ROE (24% annualized), indicate ongoing earnings momentum, which could drive strong medium-to-long-term share price appreciation if trends continue and operational leverage is sustained.
  
• Multiple business segments-including Financial Services, Asset Management, Securities, Insurance, and Savings Banks-are showing robust profit growth and improvements in operational metrics (such as declining nonperforming loan ratios and expanding client accounts), signaling diversified earnings resilience that may support both revenue and net margins over time.
  
• The company is leveraging strategic alliances and M&A, such as the partnerships with NTT Group and au Financial Group, securing access to new technologies and large customer bases, which could enable SBI Holdings to expand its reach, enhance product offerings, and accelerate account and AUM growth, thereby underpinning future revenue and profit expansion.
  
• Early and extensive investments in advanced technology sectors-AI, blockchain, fintech, and digital assets (notably via substantial private equity and venture commitments)-position SBI Holdings to benefit from secular industry shifts, providing sizable upside optionality and potential for high returns on investment, which could meaningfully boost earnings.
  
• Aggressive targets for account and AUM expansion (aiming for 30 million securities accounts and ¥20 trillion AUM by FY27), supported by successful client acquisition campaigns, product innovation, and alliances with global partners (e.g., Man Group, KKR, Blackstone), suggest strong long-term growth trajectories in both retail and institutional segments, favorably impacting future top-line revenue and overall group profitability.

Valuation

• The analysts have a consensus price target of ¥5804.0 for SBI Holdings based on their expectations of its future earnings growth, profit margins and other risk factors. However, there is a degree of disagreement amongst analysts, with the most bullish reporting a price target of ¥6610.0, and the most bearish reporting a price target of just ¥4730.0.
  
• In order for you to agree with the analyst's consensus, you'd need to believe that by 2028, revenues will be ¥1534.8 billion, earnings will come to ¥181.2 billion, and it would be trading on a PE ratio of 14.6x, assuming you use a discount rate of 11.0%.
  
• Given the current share price of ¥5969.0, the analyst price target of ¥5804.0 is 2.8% lower. The relatively low difference between the current share price and the analyst consensus price target indicates that they believe on average, the company is fairly priced.
  
• We always encourage you to reach your own conclusions though. So sense check these analyst numbers against your own assumptions and expectations based on your understanding of the business and what you believe is probable.