Unranked last year, Justin Lake, 42, rockets to his first No. 1 in this sector and in Managed Care. He earned an MBA at New York University’s Stern School of Business, then joined UBS, where he covered health care stocks for more than ten years. Lake jumped to J.P. Morgan in 2012. “Justin had the most comprehensive model on health care reform, which was the most important topic in the space this year,” cheers one client. The sector gained 26.8 percent this year through August, besting the S&P 500 by 12.3 percentage points. That trend should continue into 2014, “as hospitals will see meaningful benefits from coverage expansion under health care reform,” the analyst says, “with the key variables being underlying performance in terms of baseline hospital utilization and pricing, as well as the ramp-up of uninsured gaining benefits.” He dubbed King of Prussia, Pennsylvania’s Universal Health Services an overweight in December, at $48.04, on the facilities manager’s potential earnings growth from the extension of coverage and its exposure to the rapidly expanding in-patient psychiatric care subsector. The shares leaped 41 percent through August, to $67.75, and paced the sector by 16.3 percentage points. — Leslie Kramer Also appearing in Managed Care |
