Matteo Ghilotti, Stefano Lustig & team Equita
second team Marco Greco & team Mediobanca
Equita S.I.M.’s 12-member ensemble guided by Matteo Ghilotti, 45, and Stefano Lustig, 44, spent last year in second place. This year the Milan-based analysts reclaim the crown, thanks in part to being “an experienced crew with very good knowledge of companies in an often opaque market dominated by family-controlled companies,” as one buy-side backer puts it. The group upgraded Credito Emiliano to buy in March, at €2.46, on the belief that the regional bank’s cost-cutting initiatives would bolster its bottom line. The stock had soared to €5.39 by late December, an incredible 119.1 percent gain that bested Italy’s banks sector by 33 percentage points and its broad market by 62.6 points. Mediobanca’s 12-person team piloted by Marco Greco leaps from runner-up to second place. The researchers, who are based in Milan, “have an extremely good network — they’re totally plugged in — and their seasoned analysts have a good understanding of the big picture at the macro level,” says one fund manager. The team told clients in May that Banca Generali “had the capability to deliver brilliant results in the 2009 fiscal year,” and they upgraded the asset management firm from neutral to outperform. The stock vaulted 139.4 percent, from €3.55 to €8.50, and outpaced the broad market by a whopping 124.8 points, through December. No firm received enough votes to earn a third-place ranking.
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