THIRD TEAM

Yusuke Ando Daiwa Securities Group

In third place for a third year running, Daiwa Securities Group’s Yusuke Ando keeps in investors’ good graces with his “deep understanding of how cyclical businesses work,” as one backer puts it. Clients appreciate his February 2010 upgrade of Toray Industries from neutral to outperform, at ¥497, partly on the Tokyo-based textile outfit’s strategic alliance with Fast Retailing Co., a high-end clothing store chain headquartered in Yamaguchi. The stock advanced 24.5 percent, to ¥619, and beat the broad market by 18.1 percentage points, through February 2011.

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