< The 2015 All-Europe Research Team

Total appearances: 8

Team debut: 2007

At No. 3 for a second consecutive year is the HSBC troupe under the direction of Paris-based Antoine Belge, 48, and 41-year-old Erwan Rambourg, who works out of London; a third team member is stationed in Hong Kong. The researchers hold an optimistic outlook on Europe’s luxucy goods names, forecasting that growth will accelerate in the second quarter of this year. “We believe that the Hong Kong slowdown is not linked to a structurally lower appetite from Chinese consumers for luxury products,” explains Belge, “and we expect wealthy Chinese to resume travel in early 2015.” One name the analysts like now is Moncler, a French-Italian fashion house known for its Alpine wardrobe — and its sporty, shiny down-filled jackets, in particular. They boosted the stock from neutral to buy in September, based on the clothier’s potential to expand into underpentrated markets outside Italy. Moncler “keeps on recruiting new consumers,” Belge says. Since the upgrade, the stock gained 9.8 percent, rising to €13.18 at the end of January and besting its regional peers by 7.1 percentage points. HSBC’s researchers “are always available to answer clients questions in a quick and reliable manner,” one fund manager offers. “Additionally, they have had the right market views during the last couple of years.”