Daisaku Masuno Nomura Securities Co. The buy side says:“His solid, fundamental approach leads to reliable recommendations.”

Daisaku Masuno, 46, of Nomura Securities Co. rules the roost for a third year running — and for the fourth time in five years. “Where some analysts trade too much on short-term catalysts, he courageously stays with long-term opportunities,” marvels one buy-side enthusiast. For instance, when wireless communications provider NTT DoCoMo’s shares sank to ¥132,600 in October 2009, on anemic earnings growth, Masuno reiterated his long-­standing buy on the Tokyo-based concern, largely on rising demand for smartphones. The stock rallied as profits swelled, advancing 15.8 percent through February 2011, to ¥153,500, and besting the broad market by 7.2 percentage points. “I was especially impressed with Masuno-­san’s thoughts on smartphone penetration in the Japanese market,” explains one supporter. But the analyst’s top pick remained Tokyo’s ­SoftBank Corp., first recommended in October 2008 on higher sales of tablet computers. For the 12 months ended February 2011, shares of the high-speed Internet provider soared 44.2 percent and trumped the sector by 26.5 percentage points.

Polling and tabulation of data as well as reporting on the sector profiles were completed before the March 11 Tohoku earthquake.