Creo Co., Ltd. (9698) AI Stock Analysis

• Market Cap: ¥10.05B
• Dividend Yield: 4.24%
• Average Volume (3M): 4.18K
• Price to Earnings (P/E): 12.3
• Beta (1Y): 0.52
• Revenue Growth: 2.08%
• EPS Growth: 25.42%
• Country: JP
• Employees: 1,212
• Sector: Technology
• Sector Strength: 88
• Industry: Software - Application
• EPS (TTM): 59.44
• Shares Outstanding: 8,585,688
• 10 Day Avg. Volume: 3,790
• 30 Day Avg. Volume: 4,180
• PEG Ratio: -10.01
• Price to Book (P/B): 1.19
• Price to Sales (P/S): 0.60
• P/FCF Ratio: 9.17
• Enterprise Value/Market Cap: N/A
• Enterprise Value/Revenue: N/A
• Enterprise Value/Gross Profit: N/A
• Enterprise Value/Ebitda: N/A
• 1Y Price Target: N/A
• Price Target Upside: N/A
• Rating Consensus: N/A
• Number of Analyst Covering: 0
• EPS Forecast (FY): N/A
• Revenue Forecast (FY): N/A

• Rating: 76 Outperform
• Price Target: ¥1,409.00 ▲(20.32% Upside)

The score is driven primarily by strong financial stability (notably the debt-free balance sheet) and supportive valuation (low P/E and high dividend yield). Technicals are positive on trend but tempered by overbought signals, and cash flow consistency remains a key financial risk.

Positive Factors

Debt-Free Balance Sheet

A debt-free balance sheet reduces financial risk, enhances resilience during downturns, and provides flexibility for future investments.

Improving Margins

Improving gross and EBIT margins indicate better cost management and operational efficiency, enhancing long-term profitability.

Strong Free Cash Flow Conversion

Strong free cash flow conversion suggests that reported earnings are well-supported by cash, enhancing financial stability and investment capacity.

Negative Factors

Volatile Cash Generation

Volatile cash generation creates uncertainty around financial consistency, potentially impacting the company's ability to fund operations and growth.

Modest Revenue Growth

Modest revenue growth suggests limited market expansion, which may hinder the company's ability to scale and compete effectively in the long term.

Declining Return on Equity

A declining return on equity indicates challenges in maintaining efficiency and profitability, potentially affecting shareholder value over time.

Creo Co., Ltd. Business Overview & Revenue Model

Company Description

Creo Co., Ltd. (9698) is a Japan-based company that operates primarily in the information technology sector. The company specializes in providing a wide range of IT services, including software development, system integration, and IT consulting. Creo Co., Ltd. serves various industries by offering tailored solutions that enhance operational efficiencies and drive business growth.

How the Company Makes Money

Creo Co., Ltd. generates revenue through several key streams. The primary source of income comes from its software development services, where the company designs and implements custom software solutions for clients. Additionally, Creo Co., Ltd. earns money through system integration services, helping businesses integrate various IT systems to improve performance and connectivity. IT consulting is another significant revenue stream, providing expert advice and strategies to clients seeking to optimize their technology infrastructure. The company may also engage in strategic partnerships or collaborations that enhance its service offerings and expand its market reach, contributing to its overall earnings.

Creo Co., Ltd. Financial Statement Overview

Summary

Strong financial stability supported by a debt-free balance sheet and steady equity base, plus improving gross and EBIT margins. Offsetting this, revenue growth is modest/flat and cash flow has been volatile despite strong recent free-cash-flow conversion.

Income Statement

Revenue has been largely flat over the period with only modest growth in 2025 (about +2.4%) after slight declines in 2023–2024, suggesting a stable but low-growth profile. Profitability is solid and consistent for the industry: gross margin improved to ~24.5% in 2025 from ~22.1% in 2023, and operating profitability strengthened with EBIT margin rising to ~7.4% (from ~5.8% in 2023). Net margin remains steady around ~4.8–5.0% recently, though it is below the 2021 peak (~5.3%), indicating decent earnings quality but limited expansion.

Balance Sheet

The balance sheet is very conservative with zero debt reported across all years, which materially reduces financial risk and improves resilience in downturns. Equity is steady-to-growing (roughly ¥6.1B in 2020 to ¥7.3B in 2025), supporting a strong capital base. Returns on equity are healthy (~9.5% in 2025, up from ~7.1% in 2023 but below ~11–12% in 2020–2021), showing good profitability without leverage, though the downward drift versus earlier years suggests efficiency gains have been somewhat harder to sustain.

Cash Flow

Free cash flow conversion to net income is strong in the latest year (~0.98 in 2025 and ~0.92 in 2024), indicating reported earnings are generally backed by cash. However, cash generation has been volatile: operating cash flow swung from ¥2.17B (2024) down to ¥0.97B (2025) and was much weaker in 2021–2023, creating uncertainty around consistency. Free cash flow also fluctuated meaningfully (very low in 2021–2023 vs. strong in 2024–2025), which is a key weakness despite the recent improvement.

Breakdown	TTM	Dec 2024	Dec 2023	Dec 2022	Dec 2021	Dec 2020
Income Statement
Total Revenue	14.58B	14.52B	14.35B	14.69B	14.78B	14.74B
Gross Profit	3.63B	3.56B	3.39B	3.25B	3.41B	3.51B
EBITDA	1.38B	1.32B	1.27B	1.10B	1.27B	1.29B
Net Income	743.00M	696.00M	717.00M	487.00M	657.00M	776.00M
Balance Sheet
Total Assets	9.56B	9.99B	10.06B	9.75B	9.78B	9.34B
Cash, Cash Equivalents and Short-Term Investments	5.79B	5.62B	5.58B	3.91B	4.32B	3.93B
Total Debt	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00
Total Liabilities	2.58B	2.66B	2.76B	2.85B	2.78B	2.70B
Stockholders Equity	6.98B	7.33B	7.30B	6.90B	7.00B	6.64B
Cash Flow
Free Cash Flow	0.00	952.00M	2.00B	235.00M	749.00M	118.00M
Operating Cash Flow	0.00	972.00M	2.17B	515.00M	1.11B	494.00M
Investing Cash Flow	0.00	-278.00M	-172.00M	-350.00M	-389.00M	-399.00M
Financing Cash Flow	0.00	-656.00M	-329.00M	-571.00M	-330.00M	-296.00M

Creo Co., Ltd. Technical Analysis

• Technical Analysis Sentiment: Neutral
• Last Price: 1171.00
• 50DMA: Positive
• 100DMA: Positive
• 200DMA: Positive
• MACD: Positive
• RSI: Neutral
• STOCH: Neutral

Evaluating momentum and price trends is crucial in stock analysis to make informed investment decisions. For JP:9698, the sentiment is Neutral. The current price of 1171 is below the 20-day moving average (MA) of 1268.55, below the 50-day MA of 1229.88, and above the 200-day MA of 1152.76, indicating a neutral trend. The MACD of 10.26 indicates Positive momentum. The RSI at 40.27 is Neutral, neither overbought nor oversold. The STOCH value of 53.73 is Neutral, not indicating any strong overbought or oversold conditions. Overall, these indicators collectively point to a Neutral sentiment for JP:9698.

Creo Co., Ltd. Peers Comparison

Name	Overall Rating	Market Cap	P/E Ratio	ROE	Dividend Yield	Revenue Growth	EPS Growth
3969	80 Outperform	¥11.15B	15.06	―	2.28%	3.30%	-6.27%
9698	76 Outperform	¥10.05B	12.27	―	4.24%	2.08%	25.42%
9691	73 Outperform	¥16.30B	7.74	―	0.99%	33.30%	163.81%
9692	73 Outperform	¥71.70B	15.96	―	2.41%	13.05%	4.42%
4193	63 Neutral	¥11.24B	35.95	―	2.81%	12.49%	-57.87%
Sector *	61 Neutral	$37.18B	12.37	-10.20%	1.83%	8.50%	-7.62%
4829	50 Neutral	¥4.51B	135.76	―	2.78%	-4.90%	-85.89%