< The 2015 All-America Research Team

Total appearances: 6

Analyst debut: 2009

In second place is UBS’s Steven Fisher, who held the No. 3 position on this lineup the past four years. Clients value his “good legwork into key issues,” as one fund manager puts it. Another booster observes that “Steve does great channel checks and organizes valuable field trips — he’s the complete package.” Fisher’s coverage universe spans 24 names. Of these, Chicago Bridge & Iron Co. is one long-standing favorite. Last winter investors were punishing the industrial builder’s shares, sending them tumbling 39.4 percent in just over two months, which was worse even than the 25.2 percent decline suffered by peers — and prompting the analyst to highlight his optimistic outlook. The market was being shortsighted about Chicago Bridge’s long-term prospects, he advised in February, given the multinational’s strong cash flow and backlog of high-margin projects. Through mid-September the Netherlands-based conglomerate’s New York–listed stock gained 2.6 percent, rising to $42.60 during a period in which U.S. engineering and construction companies overall shaved 16.6 percent. Another of Fisher’s preferred players in this space is Houston’s Quanta Services, which provides infrastructure contracting services to the gas, oil and power industries. Performance going forward should see a significant boost from a “broad range of opportunities in North American electric power,” explains the 43-year-old researcher. Indeed, his price objective of $37 implies a 50.5 percent upside to the shares’ value in mid-September.