Heading this roster for a ninth year running is ISI Group’s Mark Schoenebaum, who also captures first place in Pharmaceuticals/Major, and thereby merits entry into the All-America Research Team Hall of Fame, with a combined total of ten No. 1 rankings. “Mark is the workhorse of all sell-side analysts. No one works harder or produces more,” insists one advocate. “He sets a new standard for sell-side research.” The sector has outperformed impressively, bolting 48.3 percent year to date through August, while the S&P 500 index advanced 14.5 percent. Schoenebaum, 40, expects the group to continue to climb through year’s end, but at a slower pace. His favorite continues to be Foster City, California–based Gilead Sciences. The drug maker will launch sofosbuvir, a new therapeutic for treatment of hepatitis C, later this year or in early 2014, and the analyst believes that the upside for the stock will be much bigger than the Street estimates. “Gilead could utterly annihilate the 2014 consensus numbers,” he concludes. Through August the shares skyrocketed 64.1 percent this year, from a split-adjusted $36.72 to $60.27. — Leslie Kramer Also appearing in Pharmaceuticals/Major |
