Kao (4452) Stock Overview
Develops and sells hygiene living care, health beauty care, life care, cosmetics, and chemical products in Japan. More details
| Snowflake Score | |
|---|---|
| Valuation | 5/6 |
| Future Growth | 1/6 |
| Past Performance | 4/6 |
| Financial Health | 6/6 |
| Dividends | 5/6 |
Rewards
Risk Analysis
No risks detected for 4452 from our risk checks.
4452 Community Fair Values
Create NarrativeSee what 6 others think this stock is worth. Follow their fair value or set your own to get alerts.
Analyst Price Targets
Kao Corporation Competitors
Price History & Performance
| Historical stock prices | |
|---|---|
| Current Share Price | JP¥5,857.00 |
| 52 Week High | JP¥7,007.00 |
| 52 Week Low | JP¥5,760.00 |
| Beta | 0.16 |
| 1 Month Change | -0.085% |
| 3 Month Change | -6.94% |
| 1 Year Change | -11.98% |
| 3 Year Change | 16.70% |
| 5 Year Change | -13.83% |
| Change since IPO | 423.80% |
Recent News & Updates
Narrative Update • May 20
4452: Governance Review And Asia Expansion Will Support Future Upside Potential
Analysts have trimmed their fair value estimate for Kao from about ¥7,371 to roughly ¥7,325, reflecting slightly softer assumptions on revenue growth, profit margins, and future P/E, partly offset by a modestly lower discount rate. What's in the News Kao has called a Special and Extraordinary Shareholders Meeting for April 30, 2026, at 10:00 Tokyo Standard Time.Analysis Article • May 14
Kao Corporation Just Beat Analyst Forecasts, And Analysts Have Been Updating Their Predictions
Kao Corporation ( TSE:4452 ) just released its latest quarterly results and things are looking bullish. The company...Narrative Update • Apr 29
4452: Share Split And Governance Review Will Support Future Upside Potential
Analysts have lowered their price target for Kao from approximately ¥7,528 to ¥7,372, reflecting updated assumptions around the discount rate, revenue growth, profit margins and future P/E levels. What's in the News Kao has called a special shareholders meeting for April 30, 2026 at 10:00 Tokyo Standard Time, focused on matters raised by certain shareholders.Recent updates
Narrative Update • May 20
4452: Governance Review And Asia Expansion Will Support Future Upside Potential
Analysts have trimmed their fair value estimate for Kao from about ¥7,371 to roughly ¥7,325, reflecting slightly softer assumptions on revenue growth, profit margins, and future P/E, partly offset by a modestly lower discount rate. What's in the News Kao has called a Special and Extraordinary Shareholders Meeting for April 30, 2026, at 10:00 Tokyo Standard Time.Analysis Article • May 14
Kao Corporation Just Beat Analyst Forecasts, And Analysts Have Been Updating Their Predictions
Kao Corporation ( TSE:4452 ) just released its latest quarterly results and things are looking bullish. The company...Narrative Update • Apr 29
4452: Share Split And Governance Review Will Support Future Upside Potential
Analysts have lowered their price target for Kao from approximately ¥7,528 to ¥7,372, reflecting updated assumptions around the discount rate, revenue growth, profit margins and future P/E levels. What's in the News Kao has called a special shareholders meeting for April 30, 2026 at 10:00 Tokyo Standard Time, focused on matters raised by certain shareholders.Narrative Update • Apr 13
4452: Share Split And Governance Vote Will Support Future Upside Potential
The updated analyst price target for Kao edges slightly lower by about ¥21 to ¥7,528, as analysts fine tune assumptions around discount rate, revenue growth, profit margins and forward P/E to reflect a more balanced risk and return profile. What's in the News Kao has called an Extraordinary General Meeting of Shareholders for April 30, 2026 in Tokyo, following a request from Oasis Japan Strategic Fund Ltd.Narrative Update • Mar 29
4452: Share Split And Dividend Policy Will Support Future Upside Potential
Analysts have raised their fair value estimate for Kao from about ¥7,487 to roughly ¥7,548, citing updated assumptions for revenue growth, discount rate, and future P/E, along with a slightly lower profit margin outlook. What's in the News Kao has called an Extraordinary General Meeting of Shareholders for April 30, 2026, after Oasis Japan Strategic Fund Ltd.Analysis Article • Mar 28
The Kao Corporation (TSE:4452) Full-Year Results Are Out And Analysts Have Published New Forecasts
Investors in Kao Corporation ( TSE:4452 ) had a good week, as its shares rose 2.2% to close at JP¥6,147 following the...Narrative Update • Mar 01
4452: Dividend Policy And Share Split Will Support Future Upside Potential
Analysts have modestly adjusted their view on Kao, keeping the fair value estimate steady at around ¥7,486 while fine tuning assumptions on discount rate, revenue growth, profit margin, and future P/E to reflect a slightly different balance between growth expectations and profitability. What's in the News Kao reported a year end dividend of ¥77 per share for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2025, compared with ¥76 per share a year earlier, with dividend payments scheduled for March 25, 2026 (Key Developments).Narrative Update • Feb 14
4452: Dividend Guidance And Share Split Will Shape Future Earnings Per Share
Analysts have slightly trimmed their price target on Kao to about ¥7,487 from ¥7,495, reflecting updated assumptions around fair value, discount rate, revenue growth, profit margin, and future P/E estimates. What's in the News Kao reported a year-end dividend of ¥77 per share for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2025, compared with ¥76 per share a year earlier, with dividend payments scheduled for March 25, 2026 (Key Developments).Analysis Article • Feb 08
Here's What Analysts Are Forecasting For Kao Corporation (TSE:4452) After Its Annual Results
Investors in Kao Corporation ( TSE:4452 ) had a good week, as its shares rose 5.5% to close at JP¥6,529 following the...Narrative Update • Jan 31
4452: Share Retirements And Completed Buybacks Will Support Future Earnings Per Share
Analysts kept their fair value estimate for Kao broadly unchanged at ¥7,495, with only small tweaks to the discount rate, revenue growth, profit margin and future P/E assumptions guiding this steady price target view. What's in the News Kao has scheduled a board meeting on December 16, 2025 to consider retiring treasury shares in line with Article 178 of the Companies Act (company disclosure).Narrative Update • Jan 16
4452: Share Retirements And Buybacks Will Support Future Earnings Per Share
Analysts have trimmed their price target for Kao from ¥7,630 to ¥7,495 as they recalibrate fair value, discount rate, revenue growth, profit margin and future P/E assumptions in light of recent updates to their models. What's in the News Kao scheduled a board meeting for December 16, 2025, to consider retiring treasury shares in accordance with Article 178 of the Companies Act (company filing).Analysis Article • Dec 12
These 4 Measures Indicate That Kao (TSE:4452) Is Using Debt Safely
Warren Buffett famously said, 'Volatility is far from synonymous with risk.' So it seems the smart money knows that...Analysis Article • Nov 28
Kao (TSE:4452) Has Announced A Dividend Of ¥77.00
The board of Kao Corporation ( TSE:4452 ) has announced that it will pay a dividend of ¥77.00 per share on the 24th of...Analysis Article • Nov 09
Kao Corporation (TSE:4452) Just Released Its Third-Quarter Results And Analysts Are Updating Their Estimates
The quarterly results for Kao Corporation ( TSE:4452 ) were released last week, making it a good time to revisit its...Analysis Article • Nov 06
Kao (TSE:4452) Is Due To Pay A Dividend Of ¥77.00
The board of Kao Corporation ( TSE:4452 ) has announced that it will pay a dividend of ¥77.00 per share on the 24th of...Narrative Update • Sep 06
Premium Product Investments And Emerging Markets Will Unlock Future Potential
With both Kao's Future P/E and discount rate remaining effectively unchanged, the consensus analyst price target also held steady at ¥7630. What's in the News Kao joined a 27-company consortium, led by Resonac, to co-develop materials and equipment for next-generation panel-level organic interposers in advanced semiconductor packaging.Analysis Article • Sep 02
Kao (TSE:4452) Is Due To Pay A Dividend Of ¥77.00
The board of Kao Corporation ( TSE:4452 ) has announced that it will pay a dividend on the 24th of March, with...Analysis Article • Aug 24
Kao (TSE:4452) May Have Issues Allocating Its Capital
To avoid investing in a business that's in decline, there's a few financial metrics that can provide early indications...Analysis Article • Aug 11
Kao Corporation Just Missed EPS By 9.4%: Here's What Analysts Think Will Happen Next
TSE:4452 1 Year Share Price vs Fair Value Explore Kao's Fair Values from the Community and select yours Kao Corporation...Analysis Article • Jul 08
Kao (TSE:4452) Seems To Use Debt Rather Sparingly
The external fund manager backed by Berkshire Hathaway's Charlie Munger, Li Lu, makes no bones about it when he says...Analysis Article • Jun 19
There's Reason For Concern Over Kao Corporation's (TSE:4452) Price
When close to half the companies in Japan have price-to-earnings ratios (or "P/E's") below 13x, you may consider Kao...
New Narrative • Nov 10
Resilient Expansion Into High-Value Segments Boosts Profit Margins And Global Market Share
Structural reforms and brand focus have strengthened Kao's earning power, boosting net margins and operating income through high-value-added manufacturing.Shareholder Returns
| 4452 | JP Personal Products | JP Market | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 7D | -3.7% | -0.9% | 2.2% |
| 1Y | -12.0% | -2.8% | 43.6% |
Return vs Industry: 4452 underperformed the JP Personal Products industry which returned -2.8% over the past year.
Return vs Market: 4452 underperformed the JP Market which returned 43.6% over the past year.
Price Volatility
| 4452 volatility | |
|---|---|
| 4452 Average Weekly Movement | 3.0% |
| Personal Products Industry Average Movement | 3.9% |
| Market Average Movement | 4.8% |
| 10% most volatile stocks in JP Market | 9.5% |
| 10% least volatile stocks in JP Market | 2.5% |
Stable Share Price: 4452 has not had significant price volatility in the past 3 months compared to the JP market.
Volatility Over Time: 4452's weekly volatility (3%) has been stable over the past year.
About the Company
| Founded | Employees | CEO | Website |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1887 | 31,514 | Yoshihiro Hasebe | www.kao.com/jp |
Kao Corporation develops and sells hygiene living care, health beauty care, life care, cosmetics, and chemical products in Japan. It offers fabric, kitchen, home, and sanitary care products; facial, body, hair, and oral care, hair styling and color, salon, in-bathroom health care, and warming products; and self-selection cosmetics, as well as provides cosmetics counselling services. It also provides oleo chemicals, such as oleochemicals, fat and oil derivatives, surfactants, and fragrances; water-reducing admixtures for concrete, casting sand binders, plastics additives, and process chemicals for various industries; and toners/toner binders, inkjet ink colorants, ink, fine polishing agents and cleaners for hard disk, and materials and process chemicals for semiconductor.
Kao Corporation Fundamentals Summary
| 4452 fundamental statistics | |
|---|---|
| Market cap | JP¥2.71t |
| Earnings (TTM) | JP¥128.23b |
| Revenue (TTM) | JP¥1.71t |
20.7x
P/E Ratio1.5x
P/S RatioIs 4452 overvalued?
See Fair Value and valuation analysisEarnings & Revenue
| 4452 income statement (TTM) | |
|---|---|
| Revenue | JP¥1.71t |
| Cost of Revenue | JP¥1.03t |
| Gross Profit | JP¥678.89b |
| Other Expenses | JP¥550.66b |
| Earnings | JP¥128.23b |
Last Reported Earnings
Mar 31, 2026
Next Earnings Date
Aug 05, 2026
| Earnings per share (EPS) | 283.49 |
| Gross Margin | 39.65% |
| Net Profit Margin | 7.49% |
| Debt/Equity Ratio | 12.0% |
How did 4452 perform over the long term?
See historical performance and comparisonDividends
2.7%
Current Dividend Yield55%
Payout RatioDoes 4452 pay a reliable dividends?
See 4452 dividend history and benchmarks| Kao dividend dates | |
|---|---|
| Ex Dividend Date | Jun 29 2026 |
| Dividend Pay Date | Sep 01 2026 |
| Days until Ex dividend | 24 days |
| Days until Dividend pay date | 88 days |
Does 4452 pay a reliable dividends?
See 4452 dividend history and benchmarksCompany Analysis and Financial Data Status
| Data | Last Updated (UTC time) |
|---|---|
| Company Analysis | 2026/06/04 14:14 |
| End of Day Share Price | 2026/06/04 00:00 |
| Earnings | 2026/03/31 |
| Annual Earnings | 2025/12/31 |
Data Sources
The data used in our company analysis is from S&P Global Market Intelligence LLC. The following data is used in our analysis model to generate this report. Data is normalised which can introduce a delay from the source being available.
| Package | Data | Timeframe | Example US Source * |
|---|---|---|---|
| Company Financials | 10 years |
| |
| Analyst Consensus Estimates | +3 years |
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| Market Prices | 30 years |
| |
| Ownership | 10 years |
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| Management | 10 years |
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| Key Developments | 10 years |
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* Example for US securities, for non-US equivalent regulatory forms and sources are used.
Unless specified all financial data is based on a yearly period but updated quarterly. This is known as Trailing Twelve Month (TTM) or Last Twelve Month (LTM) Data. Learn more.
Analysis Model and Snowflake
Details of the analysis model used to generate this report is available on our Github page, we also have guides on how to use our reports and tutorials on Youtube.
Learn about the world class team who designed and built the Simply Wall St analysis model.
Industry and Sector Metrics
Our industry and section metrics are calculated every 6 hours by Simply Wall St, details of our process are available on Github.
Analyst Sources
Kao Corporation is covered by 23 analysts. 13 of those analysts submitted the estimates of revenue or earnings used as inputs to our report. Analysts submissions are updated throughout the day.
| Analyst | Institution |
|---|---|
| Mitsuko Miyasako | Barclays |
| Kentaro Hosoda | BofA Global Research |
| Hiroki Watanabe | Citigroup Inc |