< The 2015 All-Asia Research Team

Total appearances: 15

Team debut: 2000Credit Suisse’s team advances from runner-up after three years to secure the No. 3 position, marking the firm’s best showing since 2010, before co-leaders Heekyung (Kenneth) Whee and Thomas Wong joined the firm. They both signed on in July 2013 from Bank of America Merrill Lynch, whose squad they directed to third place on this roster that year. Wong also heads a troupe that earns a runner-up spot on the Hong Kong lineup and oversees, with Cheong Wa (Vincent) Chan, a group that merits the No. 3 spot for its coverage of China. The five analysts reporting on this sector “have deep experience covering the oil and gas industry,” attests one backer. “I find their research to be well written and more in-depth versus peers’.” From its base in Hong Kong, the group tracks 28 regional names, an increase from 15 at the end of 2013, and has plans to further expands its portfolio through the end of the year. The researchers see mostly trouble on the horizon. “Oil stocks can hardly outperform in a low-oil-price environment,” Whee acknowledges. Indeed, the regional sector trailed the broader market by 17.9 percentage points during the 12 months through April, falling 3.3 percent. “However, a few conventional chemicals stocks can benefit from it not only because of lower input cost but also because of encouraging world supply and demand in the next two to three years,” he advises. “Despite our house view of a sequentially rebounding oil price until the end of 2015, we expect little upside from oil stocks.”