< The 2015 All-America Research Team

Total appearances: 5

Analyst debut: 2011

At No. 2 is Barclays researcher Darrin Peller, who leaps from runner-up to record his strongest showing to date. Clients hail his broad knowledge and stock-picking expertise. “Darrin is well connected in the payments space and does a great job of anticipating industry trust,” one fund manager observes. “His calls on Visa and MasterCard have been dead-on.” Another investor concurs, remarking that the 38-year-old researcher “generates a unique blend of company-specific research and industry overview, which provides a rich perspective not found with many others. He has a passion for money-making ideas and cares about entry points and exits. His work on PayPal [Holdings] was especially timely and prescient, as his fluency on the payments value chain helped me understand PayPal’s unique attributes as a processor and network.” Although he is neutral on the sector overall, Peller is optimistic about the prospects for the payments and financial outsourcing groups, believing that the increasing shift away from cash and check payments and toward e-commerce bodes well for MasterCard, PayPal and Visa, three favorites in his 21-company coverage universe. “Foreign exchange transaction and gas price headwinds are abating while pricing changes implemented by the sector should continue to act as a considerable tailwind,” he explains. “We also see notably more upside to Visa shares given the potential acquisition of Visa Europe, the value of which we continue to believe is underappreciated by the market. PayPal is another name that should perform well, given solid e-commerce momentum combined with the company’s exposure to incremental revenue streams such as money transfers and credit.”