Peter Gastreich & team UBS

Unranked last year, the eight-member UBS crew guided by Peter Gastreich lands in third place. The Hong Kong–based team — which also has analysts posted in Bangkok, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur and Singapore — follows 60 oil, gas and petrochemicals companies. The researchers are “strong on data and analytical information,” asserts one money manager. They believe that LG Chem is “the most undervalued chemical stock in Asia, from a price-earnings perspective,” Gastreich says, and have been urging clients to buy shares of the Seoul-based manufacturer of petrochemicals goods and supplies; it’s their top pick for 2012. The team is bearish on Formosa Petrochemical Corp., given a 45 percent decline in net profits last year after a series of fires at the Taiwanese company’s Mailiao refinery complex. Though the analysts expect some recovery of utilization rates in 2012, they believe that “the consensus earnings outlook is too high and that earnings are therefore likely to disappoint,” the team leader explains.
— Paul Sweeney