Hiroyuki Okaseri SMBC Nikko Securities

In second place for a second straight year is Hiroyuki Okaseri of SMBC Nikko Securities. He covers only five companies but says those were carefully chosen as representative of the overall sector. Okaseri is bullish on corrugated-products manufacturers and bearish on makers of printing paper. “My optimistic view of the corrugated-products business is mainly due to steady domestic demand and the beneficial price hike in the fourth quarter of 2011,” he says. Favored stocks include Osaka-based Rengo Co. The company forecasts that its operating profit in fiscal 2013, which runs through next March, will soar 46.3 percent year-over-year, to ¥39.5 billion ($484.5 million), and beat the previous record of ¥33.7 billion in fiscal 2009. Okaseri provides “value-added insights” and makes “perfectly timed calls,” clients say.  — Pam Baker