Jun Harada UBS
The buy side says: “Harada-san provides solid, value-driven arguments that rise above the noise of short-term trade ideas.”
It’s ten straight years at No. 1 for Jun Harada, 40, of UBS. “My discussions with him always prove useful,” insists one client. In June, Harada raised Nippon Yusen K.K. from neutral to buy, at ¥326, making the case that higher shipping rates would bolster the Tokyo-based freight and passenger cruiser’s bottom line. Boy, was he right: In the nine months through December, net profit catapulted to ¥71.2 billion ($86.8 million) from a loss of ¥26.7 billion in the same period one year earlier. In January, with the stock up 12.9 percent, to ¥368, and ahead of the sector by 16.3 percentage points, Harada downgraded it to neutral, telling clients that higher fuel prices would undermine profitability. By the end of February, the shares had dipped 2.2 percent, to ¥360; during the same period the sector inched up 1.4 percent. “Great call on Nippon Yusen — he discovered improving fundamentals and an attractive valuation earlier than most other analysts,” recalls one grateful investor. Concurs another: “The probability of Harada getting his buy and sell recommendations right is higher than other sell-side analysts’.”
Polling and tabulation of data as well as reporting on the sector profiles were completed before the March 11 Tohoku earthquake.
