Mark Schoenebaum, 40, leaps from No. 3 to lead this list for the first time. The ISI Group analyst is also tops in Biotechnology, for a ninth year running, and so gains entry into the All-America Research Team Hall of Fame. Schoenebaum says “several pipeline and launch setbacks, as well as a rising-interest-rate environment,” have subdued this group’s performance. But he still likes Whitehouse Station, New Jersey–based Merck & Co., primarily on valuation. “I believe Merck trades closer to its zero-pipeline value than any stock in the sector, based on a discounted cash flow analysis,” he reports. Merck’s shares had traded up to $46.87 by late August, gaining 29.5 percent since January 2012, when he first advised buying them, at $36.20. Schoenebaum is the “most intense and in-depth analyst in pharma,” says one fan. “He has raised the bar for all analysts.” The rearcher earned an M.D. at Baltimore’s Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. On graduating, he became a biotech analyst, working at several firms over a decade. He joined ISI from Deutsche Bank Securities in 2010 and assumed coverage of large-cap pharmas in 2011. — Leslie Kramer Also appearing in Biotechnology |
