The 2014 All-Asia Research Team: Internet, No. 3: Di (Dick) Wei & team

In third place is Credit Suisse, which slips from No. 2. The five-person squad is now directed by Di (Dick) Wei, who led J.P. Morgan to a runner-up finish last year and moved to Credit Suisse in August. Wallace Cheung, the Hong Kong–based group’s captain for the past five years, joined Chinese electronic commerce company Alibaba Group Holding last spring. These researchers are positive on their sector, which shot up 103.1 percent over the 12 months through late April, while the broader regional market rose 3.8 percent. Supporting their view are rising mobile Internet penetration, strong traction in the e-commerce segment and the development of so-called service digitalization, whereby users increasingly turn to the Internet for financial services, car and home purchases and the like. Wei and his colleagues deem Baidu attractive, forecasting that the Chinese company’s mobile search capability will drive revenue over the next few years, to more than 30 percent of total revenue by the end of this year alone, up from less than 20 percent at the start of 2014. Their price objective for Baidu’s American depositary shares is $225, implying a 38.1 percent premium their level in late April. Another of their top picks is China’s Tencent Holdings, a diversified services provider that developed mobile text and voice messaging service WeChat. Calling it the “leading Internet platform in the future,” Wei thinks WeChat has more monetization opportunities ahead, and his team maintains a target price of HK$619 on Tencent’s stock. It was trading at HK$523.50 in late April. “Dick Wei has made key calls in the China Internet space,” observes one admirer, “and definitely did his part in keeping us in the loop during the massive rally in the sector last year.”