Shaun Cochran & team CLSA Asia-Pacific Markets
Vaulting from runner-up back to second place is the CLSA Asia-Pacific Markets dozen directed by Seoul-based Shaun Cochran. “Shaun does not produce ordinary Street research — he clearly lives and breathes Korea, and it shows in his work,” declares one advocate. “You can trust that you won’t find Shaun’s ideas in any of his competitors’ research.” In February 2011 the team initiated coverage on Paradise Co. with a valuation-based buy rating, at 4,366 South Korean won, in anticipation of an influx of Chinese visitors to the Seoul-based concern’s South Korean casinos. By late March 2012 the stock had rocketed 101.3 percent, to 8,790 won. With some 90 companies under coverage, Cochran and his associates recommend market-share leaders such as Suwon’s Samsung Electronics Co. for the year ahead. — Ben Mattlin