Masaharu Miyachi
Morgan Stanley MUFG Securities Co.
Masaharu Miyachi “is the guy to have in your corner,” insists one portfolio manager. The Morgan Stanley MUFG Securities Co. analyst, who advances to third place after two years as a runner-up, told investors in March 2012 to sell their shares of Net One Systems Co., at ¥960, on the belief that the strong earnings the Tokyo-based networking services provider had been reporting could not continue. In October, citing a difficult market environment, the company lowered its forecast for the fiscal year that ended last month, slashing operating profit from ¥16.6 billion ($176.1 million) to ¥11.3 billion and net profit from ¥9.6 billion to ¥6.9 billion. By mid-March the shares had slumped 10.5 percent, to ¥859. “His anticonsensus, cautious call against Net One was one of his best calls in 2012,” applauds one backer. Miyachi is neutral on the sector as a whole. “The industry is mostly domestic and does not benefit from the weaker yen directly, but we expect industry demand will continue to recover steadily in 2013, owing to large projects for the government and financial industry,” he explains. “Valuations look reasonable.” — Pam Baker