< The 2016 All-Europe Research Team

Total appearances: 22

Team debut: 1992

After spending the past three years at No. 3, Morgan Stanley’s European capital goods researchers advance to second place. "They are stronger than ever," one admirer declares — and, indeed, the firm notches its best performance in 15 years. Since August this London-based squad has been overseen by longtime leader Benedict Uglow, 49, and newcomer Benjamin Maslen, 43, who joined with ten years’ experience as an equity analyst. Most recently, Maslen covered this sector for Bank of America Merrill Lynch; he holds a bachelor’s degree in economics and politics from the University of Bristol in England. Over the past year the team has added six companies to its coverage universe, for a total of 33, and one name on which they have shifted position recently is German conglomerate Siemens. Last February the researchers cut their rating on the region’s largest engineering concern from equal weight to underweight, advising that elevated oil reserves in Europe and the U.S. were putting pressure on energy margins and that competition was intensifying. Early in January, however, they raised Siemens back to equal weight. Its stock had fallen 10.9 percent, to €80.84, compared with the regional sector’s decline of 8.4 percent, and Morgan Stanley’s crew deem it oversold. Negative impacts of weak oil markets have been priced in, the analysts believe, and they point out that both high dividends and share buybacks should bolster performance. Their target price for Siemens is €92.