< The 2016 All-Europe Research Team
Manish Kabra & team
Bank of America Merrill Lynch
First-place appearances: 3
Total appearances: 12
Team debut: 1996
Newcomer Manish Kabra leads his Bank of America Merrill Lynch trio to third place, marking the firm’s return to this roster after a four-year absence — as well as its best showing here since 2001. A defensive mind-set is leading fund managers, on the whole, to buy high-quality stocks with earnings visibility — because they believe that the macroeconomic environment is uncertain — but that has “become too crowded a trade now,” says Kabra. In fact, he explains, his London-based squad’s style cycle framework, which matches phases of the economic cycle with investment style returns, is in a recovery phase, indicating that investors should “go out in the market, take some risk, buy low quality not high quality.” Sectors that offer opportunities on that score include midcap stocks exposed to the economies of developed Europe, the analysts advise, as well as banking, financial services, insurance and real estate. Kabra earned a bachelor of commerce degree from India’s Veer Narmad South Gujarat University. The 33-year-old worked in Mumbai for several years, in accounting and auditing at Deloitte and in research at a domestic brokerage, before moving to London and BofA Merrill in April 2010. He assumed oversight of this squad following the May 2014 departure of former leader Khuram Chaudhry for J.P. Morgan Cazenove, this year’s No. 2 firm, and last year co-captained, with Sarbjit Nahal, a crew that earned a runner-up position on the Equity Strategy lineup.
