Debuting at No. 3 is J.P. Morgan’s Dubravko Lakos-Bujas, who is “able to give you a quick snapshot as to what’s going on while speaking in a language that’s helpful to a traditional manager,” according to one client. “Whenever I want to get a quick sense of what’s hot in the quant world, I check with him first.” Since the beginning of 2013, Lakos-Bujas has been touting valuation as the “dominant driver.” Until the last year or two, he says, the overall market was propelled by anxiety and share prices were correlated, moving in tandem. “People didn’t care if stocks were cheap or expensive,” he says. “It was a market call. Now fear has abated. Investors are going back to individual stocks, and fundamentals are playing a bigger role. Investors are willing to take more risk and invest in cyclicals and growth stocks.” Somewhat contrarily, Lakos-Bujas is cool on dividend-paying companies, declaring in a December report that “it is fair to argue that the market has already started pricing in a future hike in dividend tax rate, and consequently investors have started rotating away from stocks paying high dividends.” — Paul Sweeney |
Paul Sweeney J.P. Morgan America Dubravko Lakos-Bujas
