THIRD TEAM

Hidemitsu Umebayashi Daiwa Securities Group

Hidemitsu Umebayashi of Daiwa Securities Group advances from runner-up to third. His “opinions are very clear, and his stock selection is excellent,” cheers one buy-side enthusiast. Case in point: Umebayashi upgraded Lintec Corp., a manufacturer of adhesives and other materials headquartered in Tokyo, from neutral to buy in March 2010, at ¥1,624, because he believed the company would post record operating profits in fiscal 2010 (which ended March 31, 2011) thanks to robust sales of solar-cell back sheets, which protect cells from weather damage. The stock posted sunny gains of 42.7 percent through February, closing that month at ¥2,317 and besting the sector by 33.5 percentage points.

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