Joseph Buckley | First TeamJoseph Buckley Bear Stearns Second Team John Glass, CIBC Third Team John Ivankoe, JPMorgan Runners-Up Andrew Barish, BofA; Jeffrey Bernstein, Lehman; David Palmer, UBS; Rachael Rothman, Merrill Lynch |
Joseph Buckley “knows what drives earnings and stock performance,” says one client of the Bear Stearns analyst, at No. 1 for a seventh consecutive year. In September 2005, Buckley, 53, issued outperform recommendations on Oak Brook, Illinois–based McDonald’s Corp. and Yum! Brands, a Louisville, Kentucky–based operator of restaurants such as Pizza Hut and Taco Bell, and has highlighted the stocks repeatedly since, largely on the strength of their overseas expansion. The stocks were up 25.1 and 11.9 percent, respectively, this year through mid-September, while the sector climbed 7.0 percent. In second place for a second year in a row, John Glass of CIBC World Markets has an “encyclopedic knowledge of the industry,” says one investor. In May, Glass recommended Atlanta-based steakhouse operator Rare Hospitality International, at $29.50, identifying it as a likely takeover target by Orlando-based Darden Restaurants, which wanted to expand its offerings. In August, Darden announced it would pay $38.15 a share to buy Rare, rewarding investors with a 29.3 percent premium. “A solid stock picker” is how one backer describes John Ivankoe, who rises from runner-up to third. The JPMorgan Securities analyst told investors to buy Burger King in June 2006, at $16.80, on rising income. He stood by that recommendation even after the Miami-based chain operator missed its earnings target and the share price plunged a whopping 24.6 percent by August 2006. It rebounded, though, and as of mid-September 2007 was up 53.5 percent since Ivankoe’s nod. | |
