< The 2014 All-Japan Research Team

Jiro Kojima
Daiwa Securities Group
First-place appearances: 0

Total appearances: 5

Analyst debut: 2010

Daiwa Securities Group analyst Jiro Kojima rises to the No. 3 position after two years as a runner-up. The analyst has long been a fan of Nihon M&A Center, a Tokyo-based brokerage that provides mergers and acquisitions advisory services to small and medium-size enterprises. In January 2013 he highlighted his positive stance, advising clients of Nihon’s “potential to deliver sustained robust earnings growth,” recalls Kojima. Sure enough, year-over-year operating income for the three quarters through December bolted 48.2 percent, to more than ¥4 billion ($38.3 million). And by the middle of March 2014, the stock had roared ahead 148.5 percent, to ¥2,627, compared with the sector’s gain of 27.6 percent. Publishing on 13 companies and tracking some 47 more, the researcher also currently favors Okabe Co. The Tokyo-based supplier of labor-saving construction materials and civil engineering products, he says, is well positioned to benefit from Japan’s skilled-labor shortage. He initiated coverage on Okabe in December with a buy on a price dip, at ¥1,101. As of mid-March the stock had rallied to ¥1,442. “Kojima always has new good ideas,” remarks one fund manager.