< The 2015 All-Japan Research Team
Shinsuke Iwasa
Mizuho Securities Group
First-Place Appearances: 7
Total Appearances: 9
Analyst Debut: 2007
Mizuho Securities Group’s Shinsuke Iwasa wins top honors for a second straight year, and with this first-place finish earns induction into Institutional Investor’s All-Japan Research Team. Since his 1999 debut the 42-year-old researcher has captured a total of ten No. 1 appearances across this space and the paper and textiles sector, which he tracked for Nomura before assuming his current coverage. Iwasa reports on 12 Japanese companies: five broadcasters, four Internet-related names and three advertising agencies. He is advising clients that if the government proceeds with its plans to increase the consumption tax in April 2017, the first half of 2016 will see generally strong promotional spending, especially ahead of the Rio de Janeiro Olympics in August, and the rush in demand should continue in the run-up to the tax hike. More broadly, the researcher is predicting “mostly conservative management” of national economies, given the forthcoming U.S. presidential election in November 2016. “In light of this we see little risk of a collapse in demand from automakers and other advertisers with high dependency on overseas demand, and we therefore expect a favorable environment for the advertising and e-commerce subsectors,” he says. “In addition, greater confidence in macroeconomic conditions in 2015 would likely raise hopes for a favorable environment in 2016. Such expectations could provide a tailwind for share performance in the media and Internet groups in 2015.”