Jiro Iokibe, 41, debuted on the team in 2010, in third place; he spent the next two years at No. 2 and this year climbs the final rung to finish on top for the first time. “I trust and admire his deep knowledge,” says one fund manager in Tokyo. The Daiwa Securities Group analyst follows seven stocks in the sector and recently added coverage of three steel producers. His top pick: Toyota Tsusho Corp., which he upgraded from neutral to outperform in May, at ¥1,549. The Aichi-based exporter for Toyota Motor Corp. and other automakers was benefiting from Toyota’s order growth, as well as increased non-Toyota business, Iokibe noted. In July the trading company announced plans to acquire France’s Cie. Française de l’Afrique Occidentale, giving it inroads into African markets, and he pounded the table. The deal was completed in December, and by mid-March the stock had raced to ¥2,506, for a gain of 61.8 percent that sped past the sector by 42.2 percentage points. The analyst continues to recommend it. “Boosts to corporate value from the CFAO acquisition are not yet fully priced in,” says Iokibe, who joined Daiwa in 1995 after earning a bachelor’s degree in literature from Kyoto University. — Ben Mattlin |
Industries – Trading Companies: First
