The buy side says: “Anthony has the intuition of a buy-side investor.”
Clients say “great short-term and long-term stock calls,” such as an “early but well-timed call on Disney,” help Anthony DiClemente rise the final rung to secure his first-ever appearance at the top of the ranking. “Anthony made great stock and industry calls going into the 2008 downturn and into the 2009 recovery,” observes one buy-side enthusiast. The Barclays Capital analyst upgraded Walt Disney Co. from neutral to buy in early May 2009, at $22.89, telling investors that the Burbank, California–based company was ahead of its peers in developing and marketing digital content and that revenues at its signature theme parks had stabilized. The call proved to be a bit premature — the stock moved little over the next few months; but by late that July, the share price had begun to gain momentum, surging 42.2 percent, to $32.54, and outdistancing the sector by 11.8 percentage points, by the end of August 2010. “Anthony’s bullish call on cyclical media was dead right as the economy improved. He’s a source of industry knowledge and is willing to stick his neck out on controversial names,” observes one buy-side advocate. The 34-year-old DiClemente, who earned a bachelor’s degree in finance at University of Virginia in 1998, worked as a media analyst at Stern Stewart & Co. before joining Lehman Brothers in 2001; Barclays acquired the North American operations of Lehman Brothers Holdings in September 2008.
