Yoshiyuki Kinoshita Bank of America Merrill Lynch
The “reliable and steady” Yoshiyuki Kinoshita, as one money manager describes him, repeats in second place. Before the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami, the Bank of America Merrill Lynch analyst, who covers nine media companies, had been focusing on overseas expansion and diversification as part of a cyclical economic recovery; after the disasters Kinoshita began analyzing trends in short-term domestic demand. However, later this year he expects to revert to his previous approach and “will be looking to identify those companies able to make the transition from cyclical recovery to structural growth,” he says. Kinoshita is bullish on the sector, largely because of “the expected demand stimulus from the Olympic games to come” — Tokyo will host the summer games in 2020 — and recommends advertising agency Dentsu and Nippon Television Network Corp., both of which are headquartered in that city. — Pam Baker