The 2014 All-Japan Research Team: Software/Business, No. 1: Makoto Ueno

<The 2014 All-Japan Research Team

Makoto Ueno

Daiwa Securities Group

First-Place Appearances: 2 Total Appearances: 14 Analyst Debut: 2001

Daiwa Securities Group’sMakoto Uenois back on top, rising from runner-up to claim the No. 1 position for the first time since 2009. Portfolio managers credit the 48-year-old analyst’s long experience in the industry — indeed, Ueno has appeared on this roster every year since 2001 — as well as his “meaningful knowledge and insights in this sector,” as one backer puts it. His portfolio includes 20 Japanese business software names plus a few small-cap companies. Deeming this group to be “on the cusp of a meaningful period of expansion,” Ueno is bullish, though he cautions that “because demand is very strong, there is already a shortage of systems engineers for megabank projects.” So a key driver going forward, he says, will be a “firm’s capacity to provide not only human resources but also cloud-based [information technology] services, which are not reliant on manpower.” Leading players that undertake work on government and megabank projects are his projected best performers. Examples include Fujitsu, NEC Corp. and NTT Data Corp., all of which are headquartered in Tokyo. Finally, Ueno adds, “investors with a certain risk tolerance could benefit from rebounds for names such as Internet Initiative Japan and Oracle [Corp.] Japan.”