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The 2016 All-Europe Research Team: Biotechnology, No. 1: James Gordon, Richard Vosser & team
For the first time, J.P. Morgan Cazenove fields the top-ranked European biotechnology squad.
& team
Total Appearances: 5
Team Debut: 2012
For the first time, J.P. Morgan Cazenove fields the top-ranked European biotechnology squad. In 2014 this sector was rolled into the Pharmaceuticals category, and the firm earned the No. 3 spot that year then slipped to runner-up. Richard Vosser has been managing the team since the September 2013 departure of Alexandra Hauber for UBS, and he is joined this year by newcomer James Gordon. Vosser also oversees the No. 2 team on the Pharmaceuticals roster. He arrived at J.P. Morgan via its 2008 acquisition of Bear Stearns Cos., where he reported on pharmaceuticals equities. Prior to joining the sell side, the 38-year-old co-captain spent time at accounting firm KPMG and consulting giant Mitchell Madison Group. He received his joint bachelor’s and master’s degrees in natural sciences from England’s University of Cambridge. Thirty-four-year-old Gordon holds a BSc in genetics from University College London. He began working for J.P. Morgan in January 2006, after spending three years as an analyst at health care information technology company IMS Consulting Group. Stationed in London and Mumbai, their six-strong troupe monitoring 13 names has “a deep knowledge of the sector and covers a wide range of stocks,” remarks one investor. “The analysts do very strong fundamental research and reach balanced, rational conclusions, without sensationalizing or taking extreme views.” For the year ahead, the team expects its sector to remain strong, “driven by late-stage pipeline readouts as well as upgrades from some selected new product-launch trajectories,” says Gordon. “We see European biotech outperforming European large-cap pharma, with more supportive news flow that has greater potential to drive upgrades, and also still see biotech having fairly undemanding valuations from a [price-to-earnings] multiples perspective.” M&A activity should remain supportive, as well, the researchers project. Their top picks include Denmark’s H. Lundbeck, which develops treatments for central nervous system disorders. Promising developments are in store for several of the company’s drugs, they contend, including antidepressant Brintellix and antipsychotics Abilify Maintena and Rexulti. “We see the Rexulti launch trajectory beating overly conservative consensus expectations in 2016 and beyond and see further upside around the cost-savings program, which hasn’t been reflected long term,” explains Gordon. “On top of this, we see potential 2016 pipeline upside around the Brintellix cognition claim and Abilify Maintena’s bipolar disorder Phase 3 readout.”