< The 2016 All-Japan Research Team
Toshiya Mizutani
Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities Co.
First-Place Appearances: 10
Total Appearances: 12
Analyst Debut: 2005
With his tenth straight No. 1 finish on this roster, Toshiya Mizutani of Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities Co. earns induction into Institutional Investor’s All-Japan Research Team Hall of Fame, becoming the 14th person to merit that distinction in the survey’s 23-year history. “He understands the aging construction industry better than anyone else, perhaps because of his long experience,” one fund manager observes. Mizutani, 57, has been with the firm since 2000. He actively tracks 13 Japanese construction companies, as well as 22 housing and real estate names, unchanged from a year ago. “In Japan construction investment has entered an expansion phase, leading to increases in construction demand and margins,” he says. One major beneficiary of this shift has been Shimizu Corp., a Tokyo-based architectural and civil engineering concern that the analyst has dubbed an outperformer since May 2014, when its shares were trading at ¥586. He continues to favor the company on expectations for topline growth and earnings performance, assigning its stock a price objective of ¥1,330. Shimizu closed at ¥935 in mid-March 2016, up 59.6 percent and ahead of its peers by 24.1 percentage points over the life of the call. During the trailing 12-month period alone, the shares gained 13.6 percent, compared with the domestic sector’s rise of 11.1 percent. Going forward, he recommends that investors also favor Tokyo’s Kajima Corp., considering it a turnaround story. Under the leadership of Yoshikazu Oshimi, who became president in June, the large-scale builder is undergoing rapid earnings recovery and increasing dividends, Mizutani notes. At ¥940, his target price represents a 35.4 percent premium to the stock’s value in mid-March. “His investment opinions and comments on earnings results are always helpful,” says another admirer.