< The 2015 All-Europe Research Team
Celine Pannuti & team
J.P. Morgan Cazenove
First-Place Appearances: 0
Total appearances: 18
Team debut: 1988
Working out of Geneva, Celine Pannuti guides her London-based J.P. Morgan Cazenove squad to a repeat No. 3 finish. The team leader stands out, one fan attests: “The sector is not well covered in London, and Celine does it professionally.” The analysts are issuing a note of caution on the European household and personal care products names they cover, concerned about “the discrepancy between the market’s valuation and the structural weakening of industry fundamentals that does not warrant such high valuation,” says Pannuti. One company they do believe investors should pick up is French cosmetics giant L’Oréal. Last February they advised clients that L’Oréal’s management had proven its ability to drive margin expansion and return cash to investors, even in a market where top-line growth was becoming increasingly scarce elsewhere, and recommended overweighting the stock. By the end of last month, L’Oréal had jumped 31.5 percent, to €159.05, outperforming its regional peers by 10.4 percentage points. As she did last year, Pannuti also leads a team that merits a runner-up position in Food Producers.