Simon Cheung & team
Goldman Sachs (Asia)
Simon Cheung and his six-analyst team at Goldman Sachs (Asia) slip one notch to No. 3 but continue to win praise for their ability “to simplify what can be sprawling, complicated organizations with a lot of moving parts by breaking them down to the fundamentals,” asserts one satisfied client. One favorite among the 32 companies the researchers follow is Shanghai Industrial Holdings, a state-owned enterprise with interests in consumer goods, infrastructure management and property development. The crew is bullish because the Hong Kong–based conglomerate “offers a defensive growth profile, with stable cash flow from its infrastructure and consumer divisions, which accounted for 53 percent of its 2012 net profit,” says Cheung, who is headquartered in Hong Kong. The stock is also attractively valued, he adds. It was trading at HK$24.60 in late April, and the team has set a target price of HK$31.70. — Paul Sweeney