< The 2015 All-Japan Research Team
Daisuke Fukushima
Nomura
First-place appearances: 0
Total appearances: 10
Analyst debut: 2006
Repeating at No. 2 is Nomura researcher Daisuke Fukushima. He notes that the nation’s housing and real estate companies “had the worst performance in 2014” but insists that “the fundamentals are likely to remain on a recovery path,” so he expects the group to “outperform in 2015, even if Japan fails to move out of deflation.” Fukushima, 45, reports on 21 names, an increase of two over the past year, and is applauded for his “long experience — even if his opinions aren’t always right,” as a buy-side counterpart in Singapore puts it. Among the Nomura analyst’s favorite names is Mitsubishi Estate Co., a property developer headquartered in Tokyo, thanks to its major new tenancy agreements. In early March, with the stock trading at ¥2,705.50, he reiterated his price objective of ¥3,270. Fukushima also likes Mitsubishi Estate’s smaller local rival Tokyo Tatemono Co., partly on management’s recently announced restructuring plan. He pegs the shares at ¥1,260, which represents a 41.9 percent premium to their value late last month.