< The 2015 All-Japan Research Team

Total Appearances: 13

Analyst Debut: 2003

Daisaku Masuno earns first-place honors, as he has done every year since 2009. The Nomura telecommunications analyst “has vast knowledge about the sector, not only Japanese but also global companies,” observes one admirer. “By analyzing the history of U.S. telecoms, he can give investors deep insights for Japanese telecoms. In addition, his valuation works based on the breakup value analysis are always reliable.” Masuno has added one company to his coverage universe over the past year, bringing the total to 11, and anticipates steady performance from the domestic sector overall. “Although there were many new developments, I haven’t changed my basic view of the Japanese telecom industry, which delivers stable earnings growth and solid cash returns to shareholders,” he reports. “We expect a continuous increase of cash return to shareholders in the form of dividends and share buybacks” for many of the biggest players in the space. Examples include Tokyo-based KDDI Corp., Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp. and NTT DoCoMo.