William Greene Jr. Morgan Stanley
Vaulting from runner-up to second place is William Greene Jr. of Morgan Stanley; he is also ranked third in Airfreight & Surface Transportation. “Talk about someone who drills down deep — he’s a data freak!” cheers one champion. Among the analyst’s winning picks is a July 2009 upgrade of Continental Airlines from underweight all the way to overweight, at $9.22, on the premise that the Houston-based carrier was poised for a rebound. Boy, was it. By early May, when Greene ended coverage, owing to Morgan Stanley’s involvement in Continental’s announced merger with Chicago’s UAL Corp., parent company of United Air Lines, the stock had soared 147.9 percent, to $22.86, and was ahead of the sector by 42.4 percentage points.
