The buy side says: “Jeff has guided us through this tumultuous market.”
Jeffrey deGraaf of ISI Group, who takes No. 1 for a sixth year running, wins cheers from investors in part for his multimedia work. In January his “Weekly Survival Guide” began including a link to a ten-minute online video clip of the 42-year-old analyst explaining a series of slides and graphs. “It’s a terrific way of clearly describing what he’s seeing in the market,” applauds one viewer. Other backers point to deGraaf’s February prediction of an imminent rally, based on market volatility. The very day deGraaf made his prediction, the Standard & Poor’s 500 index ended its three-week, 8 percent drop and began to rise, gaining 15.2 percent by late April before a sell-off (which deGraaf did not see coming, as he admits) sent it reeling. Clients also praise the analyst’s February 2009 bullish call on gold producers as likely beneficiaries of equity volatility, as investors sought a safe haven. Through August 2010 the sector had catapulted 41.6 percent.
