Keiichi Yoneshima debuted as a runner-up in 2011, climbed one notch to third place last year and this year rises another rung, to second. The Barclays analyst is “deeply thoughtful and always willing to help investors,” in the words of one money manager. “Most companies in the sector look fine and will continue with solid growth,” Yoneshima says. He is especially upbeat about the prospects for businesses that provide electronic-commerce services — most notably Rakuten, which the analyst has been touting since December 2008, and Yahoo! Japan Corp. “We prefer Rakuten because of solid e-commerce growth,” Yoneshima explains. “Yahoo! Japan will benefit from the market shift in Japan from feature phones to smartphones.” In the 12 months through mid-March, shares of the Tokyo-based businesses advanced 11.7 percent and a whopping 54.5 percent, respectively. — Pam Baker |
Industries – Software/Business: Second