Shigeki Okazaki Nomura
second team Hirosuke Tai Daiwa Institute
third team Toshiharu Morota Deutsche
runners-up Hidehiko Hoshino UBS; Kunio Sakaida Goldman Sachs; Masanori Wakae Shinko
In first place for a fourth consecutive year is Shigeki Okazaki, 41.Investors applaud the Nomura Securities Co. analyst’s “comprehensive coverage” and “timely opinions,” such as an April downgrade to sell on refinery builder Chiyoda Corp., after company management announced that labor costs at a plant under construction in Qatar would be higher than expected. Shares rallied briefly, but the analyst stuck to his guns and the stock soon plummeted: Its 50.9 percent nosedive through February trailed the sector’s loss by 24.8 percentage points. Okazaki “takes risks, but his calls are usually right,” marvels one buy-side backer. Hirosuke Tai of Daiwa Institute of Research holds steady in second place for a second straight year; he also is ranked third in Machinery. Tai, praised by one client for providing “easy access to managements,” upgraded JGC Corp. to outperform way back in May 2007, and so far he has been right: The engineering and construction services provider’s shares had outpaced the sector by 7.0 percentage points by the end of February 2009. Unranked last year, Toshiharu Morota of Deutsche Securities finishes third. Known for telling it like it is — “his communication style is very clear,” says one supporter — Morota urged investors to sell Mitsui Engineering & Shipbuilding Co. in August, at ¥290, on valuation. By late February the shares had stumbled 50.3 percent, to ¥144.
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2009 All-Japan Research Team Rankings