Atsushi Takagi
Morgan Stanley MUFG Securities Co.
Landing in second place for a third year running is Atsushi Takagi, who “has a deep knowledge of the sector, and whose opinions are based on historical views that are very useful,” observes one buy-side advocate. The Morgan Stanley MUFG Securities Co. researcher turned bearish on general contractors in the summer of 2011 and has held that view ever since, largely on rising costs and declining demand. In particular, in June of that year, he downgraded Tokyo-based diversified contractor Shimizu Corp. from overweight to underweight, at ¥348; by mid-March 2013 the stock had slid 8.9 percent, to ¥317, trailing the sector by 25.5 percentage points and the broad market by 40.1 percentage points. Takagi anticipates little change. “I still have a cautious rating,” he notes. — Ben Mattlin