Hayato Nagayoshi Bank of America Merrill Lynch

Bank of America Merrill Lynch’s Hayato Nagayoshi, who debuted in the runner-up position last year, rises to third place. “He is an amazing source of data and unique quant ideas,” marvels one portfolio manager. Another praises the “remarkable accuracy” of Nagayoshi’s trading strategies that focus on how the market discounts earnings surprises. The analyst believes the global economic outlook will improve imminently — definitely by July — and when that happens, investors should shift out of defensive positions and into cyclicals, using a one-year buy-and-hold strategy that takes “both value and growth into account.” Nagayoshi has assembled a basket of stocks that he considers attractive “based on back-testing that uses both dividend yield and patent strength, a measure of a company’s technological capabilities.”  — Carolyn Koo