Yoshitaka Nagao Nomura Securities Co.

Yoshitaka Nagao debuted in third place last year and returns in that spot this year. The Nomura Securities Co. analyst earns praise from one investor for “adding public sentiment and trends into the investment equation.” Another client hails his “unique methods of getting more detail than many of his counterparts.” One of those methods is to spend time with not only chief executives but also middle managers, with whom he likes to “exchange opinions” and from whom he can obtain “practical information that we cannot find just by reading financial statements,” he explains. “The hints I receive from them sometimes turn out to be spicy additions to my research that you couldn’t ordinarily uncover.” Nagao currently reports on 20 companies and plans to add to that number this year. — Pam Baker

RUNNER(S)-UP
- Hironori Tanaka Morgan Stanley MUFG Securities Co.