SECOND TEAM

Yasuhito Tsuchiya BofA Merrill Lynch Global Research

Unranked since 2008, when he was a runner-up, Yasuhito Tsuchiya of BofA Merrill Lynch Global Research shoots straight in to second place. Last April, Tsuchiya upgraded All Nippon Airways Co. from underperform all the way to buy, at ¥283, on the Tokyo-based airline’s cost-cutting efforts — including layoffs and a switch to smaller, more fuel-efficient planes. The stock advanced 4.2 percent through February, to ¥295, but shot past the sector by 12 percentage points. “He understands what we look for,” insists one loyalist.

Polling and tabulation of data as well as reporting on the sector profiles were completed before the March 11 Tohoku earthquake.