Bin LiMorgan StanleyFirst-Place Appearances: 5Total Appearances: 5
Analyst Debut: 2010
Bin Liof Morgan Stanley celebrates half a decade atop this list. He is one of only three analysts to have earned the top position in his sector every year since Institutional Investor launched the All-China Research Team, in 2010. The others are Citi analysts Kam Keung (Oscar) Choi in Real Estate and Pierre Lau in Public Utilities. “Li is equipped with sound and solid health care and pharmaceuticals expertise, and could help us understand many aspects of the sector,” remarks one portfolio manager. Beijing-based China Biologic Products is one of the Hong Kong–based researcher’s favorites in his coverage universe of 33 domestic health care stocks, and it has proved worthy. By late November the company’s Nasdaq Stock Market–listed shares had soared 50.8 percent, to $67.51, since July, when the researcher began reporting on it, assigning an overweight rating. During the same period the sector gained 14.1 percent. “As a leading plasma products manufacturer,” explains Li, “the company is benefiting from strong demand, stable pricing, new product launches and continued industry consolidation.” Even given China Biologic’s strong performance, clients single out other of the analyst’s stock picks for particular praise. For example, “I like his idea of Sino Biopharmaceutical, on which he made a brilliant long-term call,” attests another supporter. Li has recommended that investors overweight the Hong Kong–based provider of treatments for hepatitis and ophthalmia since May 2010. The shares were then trading at HK$2.93, and as of late last month, they had rocketed to HK$7.59, posting a 159 percent gain while the sector inched up just 1.2 percent. Over the previous 12 months alone, Sino Biopharma leaped 33.4 percent, besting its peers by 13.9 percentage points. In general, Li affirms the strength of “the fundamentals for China’s health care industry.” He maintains a positive stance on the group for the next 12 months.