< The 2015 All-America Research Team
James West
Evercore ISI
First-Place Appearances: 3
Total Appearances: 5
Analyst Debut: 2011
In his first year with Evercore ISI, James West picks up where he left off when he departed Barclays last fall and extends his run at the top of this lineup to a third year. And little wonder. West, 37, possesses an “excellent grasp of the sector,” one money manager proclaims. “His knowledge, both historical and current, is always fascinating.” The oil services and equipment industry is clearly in a recession, the researcher believes, and struggling with low levels of exploration and production spending by its customers. He reports “watching for a decline in U.S. and non-OPEC production, which will bring oil markets back into balance and thus drive prices higher by year end. This will then lead to a recovery in activity levels, or rig count, in 2016.” As of mid-September the domestic sector had declined 37.6 percent over the trailing 12 months, compared with the S&P 500’s 2.6 percent drop. Still, West maintains that the North American market “is the most dynamic, and as such, it has been hit the hardest and will recover the fastest.” He therefore sees potential opportunities across the industry. In the large-cap diversified space, he is touting two Houston names: Halliburton Co. and the rival it is proposing to acquire for $34.6 billion, Baker Hughes. Among land drillers the analyst prefers Patterson-UTI Energy, also of Houston; and Precision Drilling Corp., which is headquartered in Canada. Finally, he favors Houston-based FMC Technologies “as a way to position for the rebound in subsea development that we envision unfolding.”