THIRD TEAM
Walter Chiarvesio & team Santander
We removed Argentina from the survey last year after MSCI downgraded the country to frontier-market status, but we brought in back in response to numerous requests from analysts and money managers. Landing in third place is Santander’s three-analyst team headed by Walter Chiarvesio in Buenos Aires; the crew took the No. 2 spot in 2009. The fact that Chiarvesio is “based in the country gives him a definite edge — it seems that almost everyone else follows Argentina from New York,” observes one buy-side supporter. The team raised the American depositary receipts of Telecom Argentina to top pick in June 10 2010, at $16.23, based on the Buenos Aires–based telephone services provider’s increased cash-flow generation and growth opportunities stemming from the expansion of third-generation technologies such as smart phones and wireless technology. The ADRs skyrocketed 55.8 percent, to $25.29, and blasted past Argentina’s broad market by 7.5 percentage points, through July.
