THIRD TEAM

Yoshiaki Komatsu Nomura Securities Co.

Repeating in third place is Yoshiaki Komatsu of Nomura Securities Co. In late January 2010, Komatsu told clients to buy NEC Networks & System Integration Corp., at ¥972, on strong growth prospects for the Tokyo-based provider of integrated telecommunications systems largely for the engineering industry. The stock had sizzled up to ¥1,253 by last April before starting to slip, but nonetheless ended February 2011 at ¥1,107, advancing 13.9 percent and besting the sector by 7.6 percentage points. “He is experienced and has broader coverage in the sector than analysts at U.S. and European brokerages, often publishing sector reports and comments on semimacro data points,” explains one buy-side backer.

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