Debuting in first place is the Itaú Securities duo directed by Ciro Matuo, 36, who is highly regarded for his “deep knowledge of fundamentals,” according to one money manager. In March the team informed clients that yields to maturity were likely to contract and prices to rise on bonds issued by beef suppliers that had survived a wave of industry consolidations. Among the bonds the analysts recommended were Minerva 9.5 percent 2017 notes, whose YTM narrowed from 41.19 percent to 21.20 percent, and JBS 10.5 percent 2106 notes, whose yields tightened from 25.79 percent to 13.69 percent, through July, according to Matuo. A former telecommunications analyst at Indosuez W.I. Carr Securities, Matuo joined Itaú in 2000 and covered utilities stocks before becoming a credit analyst in 2006. He earned an MBA in finance from São Paulo’s Instituto Brasileiro de Mercado de Capitais in 2001.
The two-analyst Credit Suisse team, which topped the sector when it was last published, in 2002, finishes in second place under New York-based newcomer Jamie Nicholson-Leener. The pair impressed clients with a December prediction that yields would tighten on the bonds of health care companies with conservative financial management, such as Diagnósticos da América. The YTM of the Brazil-based diagnostic-equipment manufacturer’s dollar-denominated bonds due 2018 narrowed from 11.616 percent to 7.625 percent, through July. No firm earned enough votes to warrant publication of a third team.
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