THIRD TEAM

Shinji Kakiuchi Morgan Stanley MUFG Securities Co.

Unranked last year, Shinji Kakiuchi reclaims the third-team position he last held in 2008. (The Morgan Stanley MUFG Securities Co. analyst was a runner-up in 2009.) Kakiuchi is prized for uncovering growth opportunities; June’s upgrade of Exedy Corp. from equal weight to overweight, at ¥2,337, largely on the rigorous order flow for its torque converters, stands out as “especially sensible,” as one booster puts it. Through February shares of the Osaka-based drivetrain specialist shot up 15.4 percent, to ¥2,697, outstripping the sector by 5 percentage points.

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