THIRD TEAM
Akira Takai Daiwa Securities Group
Akira Takai of Daiwa Securities Group drops one notch to third place. “His analysis is very much based on hard numbers, and he’s very fair,” explains one advocate. Top calls include June upgrades from neutral to outperform on Tokyo-based Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group and Sumitomo Trust & Banking Co. of Osaka, in both cases on the grounds that the shares were attractively valued and would benefit from increased market liquidity thanks to easing monetary policies. He downgraded the stocks to neutral in early February, on valuation, when the former had advanced 10.8 percent, from ¥2,609 to ¥2,890, and was ahead of the sector by 7.5 percentage points, and the latter was up 10 percent, from ¥458 to ¥504, and leading the sector by 7.9 points. By the end of February, Sumitomo Mitsui had risen 6.7 percent further, to ¥3,085, and Sumitomo Trust was up an additional 3 percent, to ¥519; during the same period the sector rose 4.1 percent.
Polling and tabulation of data as well as reporting on the sector profiles were completed before the March 11 Tohoku earthquake.