< The 2016 All-Europe Research Team
Adam Wood
& team
Morgan Stanley
First-Place Appearances: 6
Total Appearances: 21
Team Debut: 1996
Adam Wood and his Morgan Stanley crew in London secure first place for a second consecutive year. The London-based analysts track 18 companies in Europe’s software industry. “We feel investors should still focus on the sector, even after a strong performance in 2015, because we see software as one of the sectors with the best [earnings-per-share] growth prospects,” says Wood, 41. Since December 2014, one of his favorite names in the group has been France’s Dassault Systèmes, a global leader in 3D design software development, on the belief that growth will accelerate and that investors are underestimating the company’s available market opportunity. Through the middle of last month, the stock jumped 34.3 percent, to €64.49, and led its regional peers by 7.7 percentage points. For the year ahead Wood gives the nod to airline software provider Amadeus IT Holding. Mixed investor sentiment on the shares will improve after more company disclosures on new business opportunities, he reckons. At €48, the researcher’s price target implies a 30.7 percent upside to Amadeus’s value in mid-January.