Toshinori Ito UBS The buy side says: “His industry knowledge is deeper than any of his competitors’.”
For a fifth consecutive year, UBS analyst Toshinori Ito lands in the winner’s circle. Clients praise the 51-year-old researcher’s bullish view of large domestic petroleum suppliers, based primarily on capacity reductions and rising prices. Case in point: A long-standing buy on Idemitsu Kosan Co. paid dividends for Ito’s clients as shares of the Tokyo-based oil, gas and coal provider gushed 47.7 percent in the 12 months through February 2011, shooting past the sector by an impressive 26.9 percentage points. Last April, when Nippon Mining Holdings and Nippon Oil Corp. merged to create JX Holdings, Ito initiated coverage on the new company with a buy recommendation, at ¥465, making the case that the Tokyo-based conglomerate’s dominant cost position would result in steady earnings growth. By late February the stock had shot up to ¥573, a gain of 23.2 percent that outperformed the sector by 9.8 percentage points. “Really great calls on oil refineries such as JX and Idemitsu,” cheers one grateful portfolio manager, while another buy-side supporter insists that Ito “gets the big picture right.”
Polling and tabulation of data as well as reporting on the sector profiles were completed before the March 11 Tohoku earthquake.
