Maurício Fernandes & team BofA–Merrill Lynch second team Carlos Eduardo Sequeira & team UBS Pactual
third team Andrew Campbell & team Credit Suisse
The Telecommunications sector was expanded this year to incorporate Media and include Technology, and claiming the top spot is the BofA-Merrill trio headed by Maurício Fernandes. (BofA-Merrill ranked No. 2 last year in Telecoms and No. 3 in Media.) Clients say the São Paulo–based team combines “a global view with local flavor” and is “consistently accurate.” In June 2008 the analysts downgraded the ADRs of Teléfonos de México to sell, at $24.25, on the fixed-line phone company’s declining market share. By late July 2009 the ADRs had tumbled 34.8 percent, to $15.81. Fernandes, 35, joined Merrill in 1998 after earning a bachelor’s degree in economics at the University of São Paulo.
In second place is the UBS Pactual duo led by Carlos Eduardo Sequeira; the firm fielded the No. 2 team in Media and the No. 3 team in Telecoms last year. The Rio de Janeiro–based analysts downgraded Brasil Telecom Participações to sell in January, saying a run-up in advance of the takeover that month by rival Tele Norte Leste Participações had left the stock overpriced. Brasil Telecom’s shares plunged 57.1 percent, through July. During the same period the broad market advanced 29.2 percent.
Last year’s top-ranked team in Media and inTelecoms, the three-member Credit Suisse crew guided by Andrew Campbell, finishes third. Praised by one client for a “brilliant call” on Vivo Participações, the São Paulo–based team upgraded the ADRs of the Brazil-based mobile phone services provider to buy in November, citing increasing profitability. The ADRs skyrocketed 112.8 percent through July.
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