< The 2016 All-Europe Research Team
Lars Kjellberg
Credit Suisse
First-Place Appearances: 3
Total Appearances: 21
Team Debut: 1990
From Stockholm, Lars Kjellberg spearheads Credit Suisse’s global coverage of paper and packaging stocks, which includes tracking of 15 companies in Europe. His reporting in that region earns the firm its second straight top finish on this roster, and third No. 1 showing in four years. “Lars’s scope is both broad and deep,” avers one fund manager, “and his research benefits from [the firm’s] having experts in all the major capitals of the world.” Kjellberg, 53, continues to win investor praise for his long-standing advocacy of Irish containerboard supplier Smurfit Kappa Group. Favoring the company in large part for its volume growth in Europe and, especially, the Americas, he reaffirmed his long-standing outperform rating on the stock in October, when the shares pulled back from their April peak of €29.60 and were trading at €23.68. They were then up 26.6 percent for the year to date, leading Europe’s broad market by 20 percentage points, and Kjellberg declared the dip a buying opportunity. “The market is too concerned about new supply,” he reasoned. “[It] seems not to consider a robust demand backdrop and is overall too cautious on containerboard earnings estimates for 2016.” By mid-January, Smurfit’s stock had slipped 4.5 percent further, to €22.62, compared with the regional market’s loss of 7.2 percent. Kjellberg remains bullish and pegs the shares at €31.90.