| | | Leping Huang | | Nomura | First-place appearances: 1 Total appearances: 2 Analyst debut: 2012 |
Leping Huang vaults from third place to claim his first No. 1 finish. The Nomura analyst is bullish on the sector — which since year-end 2011 has soared a remarkable 122.8 percent, through October, compared with a 17.8 percent gain for the broad market — reasoning that domestic consumption of information technology products will grow. Smartphone purchases have been responsible for the growth over the past couple of years, Huang says, but he forecasts that sales of electric vehicles, which will increase as China’s environmental issues become more serious, and smart televisions will take over. Accordingly, he recommends that clients buy Shenzhen-based autos and rechargeable-battery manufacturer Byd Co. In addition, Huang believes a growing sense of nationalism could bolster the country’s tech names. Revelations in June about the U.S. National Security Agency’s Prism surveillance program triggered concerns about IT security risks, he explains, prompting large enterprises in China to rethink their purchases of U.S. equipment. Beneficiaries should include such Chinese hardware vendors as Beijing-based Lenovo Group, which is “quickly improving its position in the server-storage market,” he says, and Shenzhen-based ZTE Corp., whose long-terms plans include generating one third of profits from the enterprise segment. Huang, 38, earned a bachelor’s degree in engineering from Shanghai Jiao Tong University and a Ph.D. in electrical engineering from the University of Tokyo. He worked at Nokia Corp. for several years as a telecommunications standardization specialist before joining Nomura in 2008 to cover Japanese tech stocks from Tokyo. Two years later he moved to Hong Kong to monitor this sector. “Leping is very quick to respond to industry and company changes, and this is very important to tech industry research,” insists another fan. — Carolyn Koo |
