< The 2016 All-Japan Research Team
Kentaro Maekawa
Nomura
First-place appearances: 0
Total appearances: 3
Team debut: 2014
It’s two years in a row in third place for Kentaro Maekawa, 37. Following 21 Japanese construction stocks, the Nomura researcher impresses clients with his clarity and intelligence. “While many other analysts are struggling for accurate earnings forecasts, Maekawa-san is precise and his thinking is logical,” one fund manager remarks. As he has done for more than a year, Maekawa includes Tokyo-based Kajima Corp. among his favorites in this space. Since boosting his rating on the company from neutral to buy in August 2014, he has repeatedly reiterated his positive outlook. Kajima, one of the country’s leading general contractors, is delivering better-than-expected margins from civil engineering and building construction projects, he advises. Its shares advanced 38 percent, to ¥694, through the middle of last month, compared with the domestic sector’s 10.3 percent gain. During the preceding 12-month period alone, the stock rose 28.5 percent, leading its peers by 17.4 percentage points — and the analyst believes Kajima could climb as high as ¥937. “He is good at analyzing profit trends and selecting stocks,” affirms a second investor. “His bullish earnings forecasts and start-price outlook have been right.”