< The 2016 All-Europe Research Team
Julien Roch & team
Barclays
First-place appearances: 1
Total appearances: 6
Team debut: 2011
After leaping from third place to first last year, Julien Roch and his Barclays team slip to No. 2. The four London-based analysts cover 37 European media companies and hold a generally positive outlook on the group. "We have been positive on the quality names in media throughout 2015, which was arguably the best way to make money in the sector provided that you identified that Pearson and Publicis [Groupe] no longer qualified," the 46-year-old crew chief reports. "We also have been positive on the online names, which was the second way to make money." Anglo-Dutch publisher RELX Group, known until last February as Reed Elsevier, is one favorite. Roche and his associates have been advising clients to overweight the name since June, deeming it a good value compared with stocks of similar quality in other sectors and seeing potential for a margin upgrade. By the middle of last month, RELX’s London-listed shares had climbed 9.9 percent, to 1,159p, outperforming regional media equities by 21.6 percentage points. Additional favorites on their quality theme include U.K.-based pan-European satellite broadcaster Sky, owing to appealing operating trends and valuation; and British multinational advertising and public relations company WPP, which they credit for having a great business model, very solid execution and reasonable valuation. In the online space they are touting MoneySuperMarket.com Group, a U.K.-headquartered operator of finance and travel price comparison websites; and Rightmove, an online real estate portal. Barclays’s researchers "are very knowledgeable and, unlike most other media teams, take a fundamentals approach rather than being news commentators," one portfolio manager remarks. "Their databases and models are also of high quality."