Natsumu Tsujino J.P. Morgan

J.P. Morgan’s Natsumu Tsujino was last year’s No. 2 analyst in Insurance. We expanded the category this year to include Other Nonbank Financials, and Tsujino, who follows 15 companies, takes the second tier again. “Her pieces are professional, with great clarity, and she sticks to her valuation logics and never compromises,” explains one backer. Tsujino believes that life insurance stocks are currently undervalued. “The sector is looking more attractive both from a short-term and a long-term perspective,” she says. “Fundamentals are fairly stable.” Tsujino especially likes Dai-ichi Life Insurance Co., believing that the Tokyo-based company offers the best upside in the group. “Banks are also cheap, with high normalized return on investment — but once the equity market and interest rates go up, life insurance stocks will do better,” she says.  — Leslie Kramer