< The 2014 All-Japan Research Team

Hidekatsu Watanabe & team
Mizuho Securities Group
First-place appearances: 0

Total appearances: 3

Team debut: 2012

Advancing to second place after two years at runner-up is Mizuho Securities Group’s Hidekatsu Watanabe, who captures his first top finish in Health Care & Pharmaceuticals this year. “His long-term views are always reliable and well worth heeding,” insists one advocate. The analyst maintains ratings on 30 of the 57 companies in his coverage universe, and investors appreciate his tenacity on Asahi Intecc Co. in particular. Watanabe has been urging clients to buy shares of the Aichi-based medical-tools manufacturer since upgrading them from neutral to strong buy back in October 2008. At that time, he was bullish because Asahi had renewed its contract to provide guide wires to U.S.-based global health care giant Abbott Laboratories. In February 2013 he pounded the table. The company was enjoying strong sales of both established products and such promising newcomers as Kamui-brand catheters, he advised. As of mid-March 2014 the shares had rocketed 106 percent, to ¥4,100, against the sector’s 25.1 percent gain, and they remain a Watanabe top pick