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Taku Ouchi
SMBC Nikko Securities
"I value him for his precise coverage and frequent factory tours."
Vaulting from runner-up all the way to the top is Taku Ouchi of SMBC Nikko Securities. The 35-year-old is generally bullish, noting that prospects are especially bright for builders of overseas power and liquefied-natural-gas plants, as well as for foreign public investment in infrastructure. His top pick is Kawasaki Heavy Industries, an industrial-equipment and vehicle manufacturer dually headquartered in Kobe and Tokyo, on the thesis that yen depreciation will spur strong demand from abroad and thus operating-profit growth, especially in aerospace and motorcycle engines. Moreover, the market for hydraulic components, which has been “a source of concern,” is likely to recover as “inventory adjustments are completed in China,” he explains. Kawasaki’s shares were trading at ¥299 in mid-March; Ouchi believes they will soar to ¥470 this year. “His analysis of his companies is very insightful,” according to one Tokyo-based backer. Ouchi joined the equity sales department of Citigroup Global Markets Japan in 2001 after earning a bachelor’s degree in economics at the University of Tokyo. He shifted to that firm’s equity research team four years later, then moved to his current firm in 2010. — Paul Sweeney