SECOND TEAM
Hiroshi Koba Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities Co.
After three years in first place, Hiroshi Koba of Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities Co. slips to second. Investors applaud Koba’s “fair, balanced and unbiased analysis,” as one portfolio manager puts it. In October, Koba recommended Tokyo-based clothing retailer Chiyoda Co., at ¥901, in part because of the company’s attractive price-to-book ratio. By the end of February, the stock had shot up 28.2 percent, to ¥1,155, and outperformed the sector by 14.1 percentage points.
Polling and tabulation of data as well as reporting on the sector profiles were completed before the March 11 Tohoku earthquake.