< The 2015 Latin America Research Team
Carlos Peyrelongue, Francisco Rodríguez & teamBank of America Merrill LynchFirst-place appearances: 3
Total appearances: 17
Team debut: 1994Reclaiming third place after a year at runner-up is the four-person Bank of America Merrill Lynch crew under the direction of Mexico City–based Carlos Peyrelongue, 47, and 45-year-old Francisco Rodríguez, who is stationed in New York. The researchers have a well-deserved reputation for delivering solid stock research but are most valued, one admirer insists, for their “political savvy and prowess.” For example, their recent explanations of how government policies in oil-rich Venezuela provoke distortions of energy markets and their skill at communicating the likely outcome of aggressive infrastructure development in Colombia have been “impressive and thoughtful,” this fund manager reports. Colombia’s Cemex Latam Holdings is a favorite of this group. So far this year, Peyrelongue acknowledges, the building materials supplier has faced operating headwinds, including a decline in cement output and the depreciation of the Colombian peso. At the same time, however, an expected surge in housing construction should pick up the slack through the balance of 2015, the analysts project. A 2013 national construction program to provide 100,000 free homes and a subsequent plan to subsidize interest rates for a separate cohort of homebuyers “led to a dramatic increase in cement and ready-mix concrete volumes in the year following their implementation,” he notes. “We believe this scenario could repeat this year.” Finally, adds Peyrelongue, the Colombian government’s “ambitious infrastructure buildup” should further drive cement demand through 2016. Trading at 12,800 pesos in mid-July, Cemex Latam’s stock is forecast to climb to 15,800 pesos. This year Peyrelongue also appears as a co-head of four additional teams: namely, those that earn second place for coverage of Mexico (with Carlos Capistran); third on the Cement & Construction roster (with Guilherme Vilazante); and a runner-up position in Equity Strategy (with Felipe Hirai) and in Real Estate (also with Vilazante).
