SECOND TEAM Douglas Leggate BofA Merrill Lynch Global Research
Douglas Leggate of BofA Merrill Lynch Global Research holds steady for a second consecutive year No. 2. Leggate, who works out of Houston, “is one of the best people to speak to on the industry,” insists one backer. Another advocate notes that the analyst “wasn’t afraid to stick his neck out on individual stock recommendations.” One example: Leggate upgraded Houston-based Marathon Oil Corp. from neutral to buy in May 2010, at an adjusted closing price of $18.60, because he was impressed with the company’s improved upstream portfolio, believing it would enable Marathon to benefit from robust oil prices. The stock shot above $33 per share in July before starting to slip; it ended August at $26.92, for a stunning 44.7 percent gain that trumped the sector by 25.7 percentage points.