< The 2016 All-Europe Research Team
Mark Troman & team
Bank of America Merrill Lynch
First-place appearances: 7
Total appearances: 39
Team debut: 1987
The Bank of America Merrill Lynch crew under Mark Troman, 45, tumbles to third place after two years on top. Despite the April departure of Benjamin Maslen for Morgan Stanley (whose squad he co-captains to No. 2 this year), this London-based team still fields four researchers and continues to track 35 regional capital goods names, providing “a unique combination of disciplined top-down views and differentiated bottom-up analyses,” as one institutional investor attests. Italian cable producer Prysmian is among their preferred names, thanks to both new contracts and a solid backlog of existing business. Rated buy throughout the past year, the stock had bolted 25.2 percent by mid-January, rising to €17.91 and outpacing its regional peers by 30.5 percentage points. Another favorite is Swedish lock and tool manufacturer Assa Abloy, which the analysts likewise highlighted last January, reminding clients of their buy position on the company. Positive drivers include recovering construction trends and the growing popularity of electromechanical locks, they advise. By the middle of last month, the shares had climbed 15.2 percent, to 160.30 Swedish kronor, besting European capital goods names overall by 18.8 percentage points.