< The 2016 All-Asia Research Team
Jasmine Lu & team
Morgan Stanley
First-Place Appearances: 3
Total Appearances: 17
Team Debut: 1997
For a second year running, Morgan Stanley leads this lineup. Working from Taipei, Jasmine Lu follows 50 regional hardware companies with three colleagues who are stationed in Hong Kong and Taipei. She also directs the firm’s research on Taiwan equities, guiding her team in that sector to its third consecutive No. 1 finish. The 42-year-old analyst “has a very long-term vision about the technology chain she covers, and that often helps us to see through some of the smoke in the short term,” observes one admirer. “Her company-specific knowledge is also very strong.” Lu and her associates are counseling investors to “hold a conservative view on the technology sector, given the lack of new product cycles,” she says, “while underlying demand is lackluster for major products across the board.” Against this backdrop, they favor names with “content increase stories to outgrow the industry — notably, dual [camera phones], acoustics, 3-D touch, Type-C connectors — that benefit from pricing upgrades.” Key concerns the researchers are monitoring include whether the new iPhone 7 cycle can accelerate user demand at the high end, if emerging markets that have been hampered by currency fluctuation will show signs of a recovery in demand and whether China’s economy will improve to drive consumption, Lu advises.