< The 2016 All-Asia Research Team

Total Appearances: 15

Team Debut: 2001

This year’s No. 1 finish marks the second in a row for the Credit Suisse team, which is now directed by Di (Dick) Wei and newcomer Zhiran (Evan) Zhou. Working out of Hong Kong, the eight-member team “covers diverse Chinese Internet names with good understanding and clear views,” one proponent relates. The regional sector climbed 23.7 percent in 2015, outperforming the broad Asia ex-Japan market by 30.6 percentage points, and Credit Suisse’s analysts are positive on the group for this year. As of late last month, its had inched up 1.9 percent since the end of December, while the broad market gained less than 1 percent. “While China [gross domestic product] grows at a slow pace, we believe the transition to a consumption-based economy would help Internet sector growth,” explains Wei, 44. “In particular, as consumers demand better quality service, they would turn to Internet platforms for on-demand [online to offline, or O2O] services.” In addition, Internet finance and e-commerce logistics, in particular, should benefit, the analysts contend. Their top picks are China’s Baidu, an Internet search provider, and 58.com, and online marketplace. Both companies should be bolstered by an uptake of O2O services, they project, as well as local advertising demands. Zhou, 34, joined Credit Suisse in July 2013 from J.P. Morgan, where he covered Chinese Internet, media and information technology services companies. He graduated from Shanghai Jiao Tong University with a bachelor’s degree in electronic engineering and spent five years as a senior consultant and project manager at computing giant Oracle Corp. in Shanghai and Beijing before earning an MBA from New York’s Columbia Business School.