The 2014 All-Russia Research Team: Financial Services, No. 3: Bob Kommers

At No. 3 on this roster for a second year running is Bob Kommers. Investors hail the Deutsche Bank analyst’s coverage of TCS Group Holding, a Cyprus-based owner of Russian retail banks and Tinkoff Credit Systems credit cards. Kommers began reporting on TCS in February with a sell rating, citing concerns about “spiraling bad loans, and competitive and regulatory pressure on margins,” he advised at the time. Sure enough, by the end of May, the global depositary receipts had plummeted 45.2 percent, to $6.80, lagging the sector by 35.5 percentage points. “Bob provides good and useful coverage that stands out because of his clear logic and integrity,” says one portfolio manager in London. A long-standing favorite among the eight Russian financial firms Kommers covers is Moscow-headquartered Sberbank of Russia, the nation’s largest bank, which the Deutsche researcher is sticking with despite recent declines. Over the 12 months through May, the shares dropped by 15.4 percent, to 84.50 rubles, against the sector’s loss of 11.1 percent. While acknowledging that he underestimated the pace of Russia’s market declines, Kommers insists that Sberbank’s “deposit-funded balance sheet and efficiency improvements make earnings resilient to the economic slowdown.”