THIRD TEAM

Eiichi Katayama BofA Merrill Lynch Global Research

Eiichi Katayama moved from Nomura Securities Co. to BofA Merrill Lynch Global Research in October and immediately initiated coverage with a few select recommendations. For example, the third-teamer, down two notches from last year, judged shares of So-net Entertainment Corp. a bargain at ¥204,400, especially given the ballooning demand for its online games. By the end of February, the Tokyo-based outfit’s stock had catapulted 43 percent, to ¥292,300, blasting past the sector by 40 percentage points. “He understands the way fund managers look at companies,” observes one devotee.

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