< The 2015 All-Japan Research Team

Total appearances: 2

Team debut: 2014

At No. 3 is Daiwa Securities Group’s Junya Ayada, who earned his first appearance on this roster last year, as a runner-up. Opportunities for Japan’s consumer electronics developers over the coming year will be found, says the researcher, in streaming content delivery services, next-generation automotive cockpits, advanced driving assistance systems for the automobile industry and high-functioning smartphone displays and cameras. Sony Corp. is his top pick, thanks largely to the Tokyo-headquartered manufacturer’s improved profits from restructuring and management’s focus on return on equity. He also likes the company’s prospects for growth in semiconductor image sensors, which are used in advanced smartphones and car safety systems, as well as the ability of Sony’s PlayStation platform to increase average revenue per paying user via a greater variety of game, music and television entertainment content. More broadly, Ayada, 37, is tracking worldwide consumer spending as well as exchange rate fluctuations. Regarding the latter, he advises that yen weakness is a positive for manufacturers that provide devices and automotive products, given the significant value that dollar-based transactions represent as part of their total sales. At the same time, the currency’s depreciation is a negative for white goods and audio-visual equipment makers. Ayada joined Daiwa as a mid- and small-caps stock analyst in 2003, one month after graduating with a bachelor’s degree in literature from Waseda University.