< The 2016 All-Asia Research Team
Peter Kurz & team
Citi
First-place appearances: 5
Total appearances: 15
Team debut: 2001
A runner-up the past two years, Citi’s Taiwan research group rises to No. 3. Taipei-based Peter Kurz, 58, and his seven teammates, including three stationed in Hong Kong, win praise from one money manager for “their consistently strong coverage and timely, often off-the-beaten-path calls.” One gem the team recently added to its portfolio, now 66 companies, is Tung Thih Electronic Co., which makes a range of high-tech auto components. Noting in particular the popularity of its automated parking systems, the analysts initiated coverage on its stock with a buy rating. Through late April the Taoyuan-headquartered manufacturer’s stock rocketed 229 percent, to 575 New Taiwan dollars, far surpassing the Taiwan Stock Exchange Weighted Index’s 1.7 percent rise during the same period. Another name they have been touting is Poya International Co., a personal beauty and daily merchandise retail chain operator based in Tainan. When they began reporting on the company in October 2014, its shares were trading at NT$181.20 and Kurz and his associates urged clients to buy, pointing to the potential for gains from management’s expansion plans. By late last month Poya had soared 83.2 percent, to NT$332, against the domestic benchmark’s 2 percent drop.