THIRD TEAM

Hisaaki Yokoo Goldman Sachs Japan Co.

 After two years in first place, Hisaaki Yokoo of Goldman Sachs Japan Co. falls to third. Last April, Yokoo was early in upgrading Asahi Kasei Corp. from neutral to buy, at ¥511, on rising commodity-chemicals prices. Shares of the Tokyo-based industrial supplier tumbled to ¥415 in August, on concerns about its petrochemicals business, before rallying to ¥564 through February, for a gain of 10.4 percent at a time when the sector was flat. “He is a big-picture analyst who is invariably quick with information,” asserts a loyalist.

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