Yankun Hou Nomura
The buy side says: “Hou has deep industry knowledge and unfailing diligence.”
Repeating in first place is Yankun Hou of Nomura, who has been a key factor in “our investment success for several years running,” declares one portfolio manager. Hou shifted gears in his auto-industry calls over the past year from bearish to bullish. The 40-year-old analyst, who also wins the pole position in Industrials, urged investors to buy Great Wall Motor Co. in March 2010, at HK$11.31, and highlighted the call throughout the year, on the belief that rising demand for the auto manufacturer’s sport utility vehicles would boost the Baoding, Hebei–based company’s bottom line. Boy, was that an understatement: In March 2011 the company reported that net profit in 2010 skyrocketed 163.7 percent, to 2.7 billion yuan ($414.6 million). The stock had zoomed to HK$14 by the end of the following month, an advance of 23.8 percent that left the sector’s 2.2 percent retreat choking in the dust.