Yoshio Ando Deutsche Securities

Yoshio Ando of Deutsche Securities finishes third. Clients say this “no-nonsense” analyst “is not a storyteller, but sticks to the numbers and is always a reliable reference.” Ando expects operating profit growth at telecommunications companies to remain in the single digits through fiscal 2013, which ends next March, “while Japanese exporters should recover their earnings steeply on depreciation of the yen,” he says. Current favorites include Tokyo-based services provider NTT DoCoMo, because the company is “setting earnings-per-share growth supported by share buybacks as a midterm strategy,” Ando predicts.  — Pam Baker

RUNNER(S)-UP
- Makio Inui UBS
- Kei Takahashi Bank of America Merrill Lynch
- Tetsuro Tsusaka Morgan Stanley MUFG Securities Co.