Toshihiko Okino UBS The buy side says: “If you want to know how the market is treating valuations, you go to him first.”
Toshihiko Okino of UBS rules the roost for an eighth year running. “He has been around a lot and is very experienced — he used to work in the real estate industry — and investors all appreciate the perspective,” one money manager explains. “He’s probably more aware of investor sentiment than any other analyst.” Okino’s best stock picks include December upgrades from neutral to buy on two Tokyo-based developers, Mitsui Fudosan Co., at ¥1,576, and Mitsubishi Estate Co., at ¥1,489, on expectations that a recovery was imminent in commercial real estate transactions. As of the end of February 2011, both stocks were performing nicely: Mitsui Fudosan was up 10 percent, selling at ¥1,734, and Mitsubishi Estate had climbed 12 percent, to ¥1,668. During the same period the sector gained 11.3 percent. Okino “has his finger on the pulse for how the Street views a company’s stock,” declares one investor.
Polling and tabulation of data as well as reporting on the sector profiles were completed before the March 11 Tohoku earthquake.
