< The 2016 All-Europe Research Team
Ana Munera Jimenez & team
BBVA
First-place appearances: 0
Total appearances: 6
Team debut: 1995
For a second consecutive year, BBVA’s Ana Munera Jimenez and her 12-strong group in Madrid garner the No. 2 spot on this roster. “If I need to know something about Spanish stocks — especially if I’m looking for market research on banking and financial stocks — they’ll probably do the best job at supplying local knowledge,” says one money manager. “A big part of their strength is that they’re able to give advice on the political situation and tell me who’s really pulling the strings.” The analysts’ coverage universe encompasses 86 stocks in Iberia, including Spain’s Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles, which is one of their favorite names. A leading global player in the urban rail-transport sector, CAF manufactures, maintains and leases rolling stock worldwide. Offering a complete product mix, from light rail vehicles to high-speed trains, the manufacturer is attractive for its technological prowess and supply-chain skills, Munera and her associates believe. In addition, they point to CAF’s increasingly international presence as compelling. It maintains plants in its home market, Brazil, France, Mexico and the U.S., and ships to an array of broadly diversified markets — so much so that exports now account for roughly 85 percent of revenue, a 30 percentage point increase over the past decade. The BBVA squad assigns CAF a price objective of €315, implying a 43 percent upside to the stock’s value at the middle of last month.