Nikolaj Lippmann & team Morgan Stanley

The buy side says: “He’s the best analyst here in Mexico, bar none.”

Up one notch to first place for the first time is the Morgan Stanley team led solely this year by Nikolaj Lippmann, who “has very good knowledge of all the companies and managements,” explains one supporter. The two-member team works out of Mexico City and includes Grupo Financiero Banorte among its top picks for 2012. The Monterrey-based bank capitalizes on Mexico’s “underlevered markets,” Lippmann says, and the financial sector is emerging as “one of the main structural winners in Mexico.” The stock soared 50 percent in the first half of the year. The pair also touts Mexico City’s Grupo Aeroportuario del Sureste, which operates nine airports in southern Mexico and is well positioned to benefit from tourist traffic to and from Cancun’s sunny beaches, he explains. The stock shot up 29.6 percent year-to-date through mid-July. The 36-year-old Lippmann, who also captains a runner-up team in Cement & Construction, earned a master’s degree in finance from Copenhagen Business School. He joined Morgan Stanley in 2010 after 11 years at Dutch firm BankInvest, where he worked as a portfolio manager. “Because he used to be on the buy side, he brings an investor’s view that’s different from many on the sell side and gives better stock picks,” marvels another ally. — Paul Sweeney