< The 2016 All-Europe Research Team
Penelope Butcher & team
Morgan Stanley
First-place appearances: 4
Total appearances: 17
Team debut: 1999
For a third year running, Morgan Stanley’s London-based squad under Penelope Butcher claims second place. The 37-year-old team leader "is good at explaining complex problems [and] issuing timely stock updates," observes one portfolio manager. This admirer singles out for praise the team’s coverage of National Express Group, a U.K.-based provider of public transportation services in its domestic market, Continental Europe, North Africa, North America and the Middle East. In November 2014, Butcher and her colleagues reiterated their overweight position on National Express, citing as catalysts high volumes in the bus business, margin expansions, strong free cash flow and management’s deleveraging of debt. Sure enough, by mid-January the stock had climbed 30.1 percent, to 304.20p, while its regional peers posted a 1.1 percent loss. Of the 31 regional transportation companies they monitor, one favorite going forward is International Consolidated Airlines Group, thanks in part to the effectiveness of management’s recent cost-savings program. Recommended for years, shares of the Spanish-British airline holding company — whose assets include flag carriers Aer Lingus, British Airways and Iberia — rose 14.5 percent during the 12 months through mid-January, to 551p. During the same period Europe’s transportation names overall lost 5.7 percent.