Robert Ford & team  BofA Merrill Lynch Global Research

In third place for a third straight year is the New York–based BofA Merrill Lynch Global Research trio captained by Robert Ford — “the wise man you want to have by your side,” according to one money manager. Ford, who also leads the No. 3–ranked team in Retailing, and his associates upgraded South America’s largest brewery, Cía. de Bebidas das América, or AmBev, from neutral to buy in April, at R167.23, on the belief that the São Paulo–based company’s aluminum hedges would offset rising packaging costs. By late July the stock had zipped to R190.38, a gain of 13.8 percent.