Ehud Gelblum J.P. Morgan
second team Tal Liani BofA Merrill Lynch
third team Jeffrey Evenson Sanford C. Bernstein
Ehud Gelblum is No. 1 in this sector for a fourth year running, and he is also on top in Telecom Equipment/Wireless for a third straight year. Gelblum, 40, consistently captures these dual honors in part because he is “quick to recognize catalysts for stocks,” according to one investor. In May the analyst, who left J.P. Morgan in July and will join Morgan Stanley this month, upgraded Aruba Networks to overweight, at $5.14, citing strong growth prospects at the Sunnyvale, California–based manufacturer of wireless products for local area networks. The stock had sizzled up to $9.11 by late August, a gain of 77.2 percent that trounced the sector’s 8.1 percent advance.
Tal Liani of BofA Merrill is also a double winner, repeating in second place in this sector and rising from third to second in Telecom Equipment/Wireless. Lauded by one fan for his “deep knowledge of the companies he covers,” Liani highlighted his long-standing buy on Cisco Systems in March, at $16.14, on the San Jose–based company’s expansion into the server market. The stock surged 33.8 percent, to $21.60, through August.
Jeffrey Evenson holds steady in third place. The Sanford C. Bernstein analyst, who produces research that, according to one fund manager, “gets clients thinking about the long-term strategy of a company,” launched coverage of Brocade Communications Systems with an outperform rating in May, calling the San Jose maker of network applications a likely beneficiary of Cisco’s move into servers. By August 31 the stock had outpaced the sector by 17.9 percentage points.
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