Man Chuen (Benjamin) Lo & team J.P. Morgan

Man Chuen (Benjamin) Lo, who guides the J.P. Morgan team of six to a second consecutive third-place appearance, “is experienced — probably one of the few people following the sector who’s still around since I started on the buy side more than six years ago,” observes one money manager. The Hong Kong–based crew follows 20 companies, and its outlook for the year is mixed: “Assuming a steady global and regional economic recovery remains intact, we are constructive on the diversified conglomerates but would continue to avoid overweight positions in the property-centric conglomerates, which we believe could perform less well in a recovery this time versus 2009,” Lo explains. The analysts are urging clients to overweight First Pacific Co., a Hong Kong–headquartered investment management and holding company with operations in infrastructure development, natural resources and telecommunications, among other industries. First Pacific benefits from “domestic-oriented businesses, its [Association of Southeast Asian Nations] exposures and relatively lower vulnerability to external shocks,” he notes. — Paul Sweeney