< The 2014 All-America Research Team

Total Appearances: 13

Analyst Debut: 2002Capturing the top spot on this list for a sixth straight year is James Covello, who also earns a runner-up position in Semiconductors, as he did last year. Investors especially value Covello’s intelligence. He “understands the companies that he covers and their cyclic nature extremely well,” reports one admirer. Indeed, “Jim is an analyst’s analyst,” another portfolio manager declares. Of the 19 U.S. semiconductor capital equipment names the 41-year-old Goldman, Sachs & Co. analyst monitors, one favorite is Lam Research Corp., which manufactures processing equipment for use in making integrated circuits. Covello urged investors to buy the Fremont, California–based company’s shares last October, owing to improved capital expenditure in the memory segment and his belief that Lam has more exposure to memory customers than any other semicap equipment company. “We believe the key issue for the sector is the resurgence of memory companies — DRAM and NAND — spending significant levels of capex,” he explains. “Prior to 2014, DRAM and NAND manufacturers had been spending very low levels of capex relative to historical trends, which was a negative for the semi equipment industry. However, due to the significantly increased profitability of the memory makers in late 2013 and early 2014, those companies began to spend capex more aggressively in 2014 — and we expect this to continue into 2015.” Sure enough, by mid-September, Lam’s stock had bolted 38.9 percent, to $72.13, besting its peers by 4.9 percentage points.