Jit Soon Lim & team Nomura
Nomura’s Jit Soon Lim and his crew of five in Singapore — assisted by three in Hong Kong and two in Malaysia — slip to No. 2. With a universe of 48 stocks, the analysts exhibit a “deeper understanding than others,” says one portfolio manager. They pounded the table on Fraser and Neave in July, at 5.90 Singapore dollars, after shares of the diversified property development, beverage and printing concern had already bubbled up 43.6 percent since the analysts’ March 2010 upgrade, which was based on the company’s expanding soft-drinks and brewery operations. The stock had risen a further 13.6 percent, to S$6.70, by the end of March; that’s a life-of-call gain of 63 percent that shot past the Singapore market’s rise by 57.7 percentage points, and the team continues to champion the stock. — Ben Mattlin