Repeating at No. 3 is Takuya Osaka of Morgan Stanley MUFG Securities Co., who remains popular with investors for arranging “small, intimate meetings with managements and site visits that help us to better understand companies’ businesses and strategies,” according to one Tokyo-based portfolio manager. Osaka’s top pick is Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha, a Tokyo-based operator of cargo ships, tankers and terminals. Shippers outperformed the broad market by about 20 percentage points in the three months through February, the analyst points out, and “we think the expected recovery in the container business is not priced in.” Kawasaki Kisen shares were trading at ¥228 in mid-March, and Osaka believes they will sail all the way to ¥360 this year. — Paul Sweeney |
Industries — Transportation: Third