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Anthony Rizzuto Jr.

First TeamAnthony Rizzuto Jr.

Bear Stearns

Second Team

Michael Gambardella, JPMorgan

Third Team

Peter Ward, Lehman

Runner-Up

John Hill, Citi


In one of this year’s greatest comeback stories, Anthony Rizzuto Jr. reclaims the top spot he last held in 2000. The Bear Stearns analyst simply “gets more stocks right than anybody else,” according to one portfolio manager. In May 2006, Rizzuto, 47, upgraded Pittsburgh-based specialty steel producer Allegheny Technologies to outperform, as a bargain at $59.93. By mid-September 2007 it had shot up to $95.12, a gain of 58.7 percent, while the sector advanced 35.3 percent. “Tony has a portfolio manager’s sensibility,” praises one enthusiast. A long-standing bullish view on steel helps Michael Gambardella of JPMorgan Securities rise one tier to second. In November 2005, Gambardella placed U.S. Steel Corp. on his firm’s focus list as cheap at $41.81; by mid-September 2007 it had skyrocketed to $91.64, rising 57.7 percent in the preceding 12 months alone. “Mike is the go-to guy for metals,” says one impressed investor. After spending the past two years on the first team, Peter Ward slips to third. Last November the Lehman Brothers analyst raised Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold to overweight after the Phoenix-based company tendered a takeover of rival copper producer Phelps Dodge Corp. (The acquisition closed in March, creating the biggest publicly traded copper company in the world.) Through mid-September, Freeport jumped from $60.61 to $97.70, a gain of 61.2 percent, well ahead of the sector’s 20.7 percent advance over the same period.