Robert Edwards & team Renaissance
second team Dmitry Kolomytsyn & team Morgan Stanley
third team Sergey Donskoy, Mikhail Stiskin & team Troika
London-based Robert Edwards, 43, pilots the five-member RenCap team to a fourth straight first-place finish. “The group has kept its eye on metals prices and how they can create short-term moneymaking opportunities,” explains one supporter. A few examples: In July the team issued valuation-driven upgrades from hold to buy on coal producer Raspadskaya, at $2.02; on the GDRs of steelmaker Evraz Group, at $16.50; and on the global depositary shares of Novolipetsk Steel, at $18.83. Through January, Raspadskaya’s stock price nearly tripled, to $5.52; the Evraz receipts more than doubled, to $33.20; and the Novolipetsk shares were up 63.3 percent, to $30.75.
Over the same period the sector advanced 25.2 percent. Morgan Stanley’s trio under Moscow-based Dmitry Kolomytsyn holds steady in second place. Rising steel exports prompted the analysts to upgrade Mechel from underweight to overweight in February 2009, at $3.80. The Russian steel and coal miner’s shares skyrocketed a jaw-dropping 452.6 percent, to $21, and blasted past the sector by a staggering 405.7 points, through January. “It’s always useful to chat with them,” applauds one admirer.
Troika debuts in third place. The Moscow-based threesome steered by Sergey Donskoy and Mikhail Stiskin, who also leads the No. 3 team in Chemicals, is “the best at giving timely and pertinent comments,” cheers one portfolio manager. In February 2009 the analysts urged clients to buy Petropavlovsk (formerly known as Peter Hambro Mining), a London-based operator of gold and iron mines in Russia, at a bargain-priced 469p. The stock catapulted 90 percent, to 891p, through January.
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