< The 2016 All-Japan Research Team

Total appearances: 11

Team debut: 2006

At No. 3 on this lineup for a second year running is Tatsuo Yoshida, who reported on Japan’s automakers for Barclays from September 2013 until the firm began winding down its Asia-Pacific equities research operations in January. “He has a good understanding of the Japanese companies’ global businesses, especially in the U.S. market,” says one U.K. backer. “He gets into the nitty-gritty details of the various foreign markets and has a deep understanding of the dynamics, which can be difficult if you’re sitting at a desk in Tokyo.” On this theme last year, the 56-year-old researcher maintained his bullish stance on Honda Motor Co. For 2015 he preferred the Tokyo-headquartered manufacturer on the belief that management’s aggressive product launches — including the HR-V subcompact crossover sport utility vehicle, as well as new generations of the Pilot midsize SUV and Civic compact cars — would bolster strong gains at the company’s North American businesses. In addition, Yoshida predicted that improved growth in Honda sales in Asia ex-Japan would continue apace. Sure enough, year-over-year auto unit sales in that region jumped 20.4 percent during the nine months through December, to more than 1.3 million, supporting an 11.7 percent rise in revenue there, to ¥2.7 trillion ($22.4 billion). During the same period, North American auto revenues climbed 20.1 percent, to ¥6.4 trillion, on unit sales upwards of 1.4 million, representing a gain of 5.8 percent. In early December 2014, with Honda trading at ¥3,652, he assigned the stock a target price of ¥4,700. It climbed as high as ¥4,486 in August before macro concerns tanked the Japanese stock market, he notes. Even so, the shares posted a 7.1 gain through the end of last year, closing at ¥3,910, while the domestic sector was flat.