Ehud Gelblum Morgan Stanley First-place appearances: 7
Total appearances: 9
Analyst debut: 2005 Hall of Fame member Ehud Gelblum repeats in the top spot, laying claim to No. 1 for seven of the past eight years. He also ranks first again in Telecom Equipment/Wireless. The 44-year-old analyst “has excellent models and is a thought leader covering the space,” attests one money manager. Gelblum tracked 22 companies at Morgan Stanley, before leaving this summer to join Citi. Over the past year he has focused on the macroeconomic slowdown, its impact on the enterprise names in the networking sector and the gradual increase in service-provider spending by traditional telecommunications companies. “The sector is going through significant changes as more emphasis is being put on software-based solutions riding on more generic hardware rather than special purpose-built networking devices,” he reports. “Growth of cloud-based services at giant customers Amazon.com, Google and Facebook is accelerating this trend, as networking equipment has traditionally been a large expense line item that they are struggling to get under control.” Gelblum is “good at handling multiple points and making it a single idea,” according to another fan. — Pam Baker
Also appearing in Telecom Equipment/Wireless