Andrew Steinerman | First TeamAndrew Steinerman Bear Stearns Second Team Kelly Flynn, Credit Suisse Third Team Gary Bisbee, Lehman Runners-Up Christopher Gutek, Morgan Stanley; Michel Morin, Merrill Lynch |
| Andrew Steinerman takes top honors for a third year in a row. “He is my go-to guy on outsourcing stocks,” says one portfolio manager, adding that the 39-year-old Bear Stearns analyst “does not hold back in disagreeing with a client, which makes for a more productive conversation.” Last September, Steinerman urged investors to buy Accenture, at $29.36, reasoning that the Bermuda-based management-consulting firm was primed for growth after resolving a contract dispute. By mid-September 2007 the stock was up 35.1 percent, to $39.66, while the sector gained just 3.6 percent. Kelly Flynn, who left UBS for Credit Suisse in March, repeats in second and wins praise for what one client calls her “global perspective” on the sector. “Kelly has been correct in viewing the group’s return potential as mundane with bursts of volatility,” explains one investor, who also praises her bearish call on Apollo Group in April 2006, “when it was hard for any Street analyst to be neutral” on the aggressively expanding educational services company, which is headquartered in Phoenix. The share price has fluctuated wildly since, and through mid-September 2007 it was up only 5.5 percent since Flynn’s call. Gary Bisbee of Lehman Brothers debuts in third on the strength of his contrarian views or, as one client puts it, “his skepticism, which is necessary in a group where so many analysts just love” the stocks. In June, Bisbee downgraded longtime favorite ITT Educational Services, a Carmel, Indiana–based provider of postgraduate programs that he first recommended in 2005. Investors that followed Bisbee’s advice over the period captured a 147.7 percent gain. | |
