Gerald Bisbee Barclays Capital
Although he slips one notch to third place, Gerald Bisbee continues to do “an exceptional job of separating fact from opinion,” as one portfolio manager puts it. In February, when Ecolab shares fell to $41.04, the Barclays Capital analyst highlighted his overweight rating, judging the price dip an overreaction to management’s disappointing earnings guidance. (Bisbee had been urging clients to overweight the stock since November 2008.) Shares of the St. Paul, Minnesota–based provider of sanitation services for restaurants and medical facilities had jumped to $47.40 by late August, a gain of 15.5 percent since the reiteration that bested the sector by 16.4 percentage points.