< The 2015 All-Asia Research Team
Total appearances: 7
Team debut: 2009Lourens Pirenc oversees the 26-member Morgan Stanley squad that rebounds to first place after a year at No. 2. The 42-year-old team leader “is on top of his coverage,” one fan attests. Working from offices in Melbourne and Sydney, the researchers follow 170 companies, providing “a fresh perspective, even in humdrum sectors,” another fund manager observes. One long-standing favorite of Pirenc and his colleagues is Sydney-based wealth management firm AMP. They upgraded the stock from equal weight to overweight in June 2013, at A$5.14, deeming it undervalued. Last May, with AMP up 3.1 percent and trailing Australia’s broad market by 9.5 percentage points, they highlighted their positive stance, alerting investors to growth in the company’s life insurance business. Indeed, by the end of last month, the shares had jumped to A$6.44, for a gain of 21.5 percent since they reiterated their rating. During the same period, the wider market gained 4.8 percent. Another Sydney financial services firm, Macquarie Group, has more recently been added to the analysts’ list of overweight-rated stocks. They boosted the banking and advisory firm from equal weight in February, thanks in part to gains in its funds management operations. Through April the stock jumped 20.4 percent, to A$77.97, while its Australian peers traded sideways. Morgan Stanley’s crew assigns Macquarie a target price of A$90.40.
