< The 2014 All-China Research TeamWei FengChina International Capital Corp.First-place appearances: 0

Total appearances: 1

Analyst debut: 2014Appearing on this lineup for the first time is China International Capital Corp. analyst Wei Feng, who captures second place. From his base in Shanghai, the researcher reports on 22 Chinese autos and auto parts manufacturers and plans to expand his scope to more than 30 over the coming year. Actively covering both A-share and H-share markets affords him “a unique advantage to do research and serve domestic and global investors,” Feng believes. Among his strongest calls over the past year was his advice to investors in late April to buy Shanghai’s SAIC Motor Corp. China’s largest auto group, by sales, was trading at an extremely attractive valuation, he noted, with five times forward price to earnings and a 9.4 percent dividend yield. By late last month, SAIC’s stock had leaped 60.3 percent, to 19.29 yuan, besting its peers by 53.7 percentage points. Looking forward, Feng expects that the keywords for China’s autos companies will be new energy vehicles and transformation. He reckons that “2015 will be the year NEV sees an exploding growth in China.” Plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, which both the Chinese government and consumers favor, will also become very important, he adds. “I like Feng’s research for the in-depth understanding of China’s auto industry,” attests one money manager. “He has very strong relationships with auto companies in China, and his auto background differentiates his research from the other analysts’, to a large extent.”