The 2013 All-China Research Team: Banks, Second: Yi (Winnie) Wu

Advancing one rung to second place is Bank of America Merrill Lynch’s Yi (Winnie) Wu. In late June, Wu forecast a sectorwide rebound for Chinese banking shares, which were then down 18.3 percent year to date. Accordingly, she upgraded to buy three commercial banking services providers that she deemed best positioned to benefit from that projected turnaround. Beijing’s Agricultural Bank of China and China Minsheng Banking Corp. she boosted from neutral, and she elevated Shenzhen-based China Merchants Bank from sell. “Valuation is too cheap to ignore,” she advised, “despite the macro and policy risks, which the market seems to be well aware of.” By the end of October, Agricultural Bank’s shares had advanced 7.6 percent, to 2.55 yuan; and China Minsheng’s had climbed 9.4 percent, to 8.96 yuan; while China Merchant’s stock had slipped 1.6 percent, to 10.74 yuan. Over that four-month period, the sector leaped 20.8 percent. — Katie Gilbert