Nicolas Gaudois & team UBS

UBS captures a second straight appearance in second place. This year the five-person crew is under the sole direction of Nicolas Gaudois, who also pilots a runner-up team in Technology/Hardware. According to one investor, the analysts are “adept at providing a global context for their semiconductor industry calls, as well as filling in the global mosaic with data out of Asia.” The Seoul-based team is upbeat on makers of dynamic random-access memory, on the belief that industry consolidation will lead to higher earnings and improved profitability. The researchers added Samsung Electronics Co. to their list of key calls in September. In January, with shares of the South Korea–based chipmaker up 23 percent and ahead of the broad market by 9.9 percentage points, they removed it from the list; but they maintained their buy recommendation, and the stock rose a further 24 percent through March. “Nic really left his mark this year with me with an absolute home run call on Samsung,” cheers one backer. — ­Pam Baker