< The 2015 All-America Research Team
Carter Braxton Worth
Cornerstone Macro
First-place appearances: 0
Total appearances: 8
Analyst debut: 2008
In third place on this lineup for the past three years, Carter Braxton Worth advances to reclaim the No. 2 position he held in 2010 and 2011, when he was with Oppenheimer & Co. Worth joined Cornerstone Macro in March after a year at Sterne, Agee & Leach. Among his recent recommendations is an admonition to avoid energy industries, including oil and gas, which he projects will underperform the wider U.S. market. On the other hand, the 49-year-old researcher is touting homebuilders and housing-related stocks, deeming them “one of our favorite areas of the market.”America’s homebuilding sector has been following a classic pattern, he notes. The SPDR S&P homebuilders exchange-traded fund that tracks the S&P Homebuilders Select Industry Index soared 57.3 percent in 2012, beating the S&P 500 by 43.9 percentage points. Following this “steep preceding advance,” Worth points out, the group saw “industry consolidation and underperformance in 2013 and 2014,” which in turn has led to “important yet nascent outperformance” so far this year. Over the two years through December, the housing ETF trailed the broad market by 14.9 percentage points, despite its rise of 29.5 percent; during this year to date through mid-September, it climbed 7.9 percent, against the S&P 500’s decline of 4.9 percent. Even beyond residential builders, companies in a whole panoply of housing-related sectors are on the verge of a breakthrough, he contends, including forest products, home appliances, housewares and security and alarm services. “Carter does the basics and shows you patterns that are really helpful for investing,” applauds one buy-side backer. “His weekly reports are a must-read — he gives you a quick technical analysis, and he keeps it simple.”
