< The 2015 All-Europe Research Team
Victoria Lee & team
Barclays
First-Place Appearances: 2
Total Appearances: 6
Team Debut: 2010
At No. 1 on this roster for a second year in a row is the three-strong Barclays troupe directed by Victoria Lee. The 34-year-old researcher and her London-based associates warn that the hotel industry could be facing major threats in the form of online travel agencies as well as so-called sharing-economy sites, such as Airbnb, a U.S.-headquartered, Internet-based marketplace that allows users who want to rent their properties to connect directly with users looking to rent spaces. The challenged consumer environment in Europe isn’t helping matters, she notes, and although falling oil prices could boost the group this year, investors are well advised to stick in the meantime to strong, high-quality players. These analysts’ favorite example of such a name is Whitbread, a U.K.-based operator of hotels, coffee shops and restaurants in 30 countries. The hospitality giant is a long-time favorite: Lee and her team have touted the shares since September 2011. Whitbread’s price-to-earnings-to-growth ratio is among the lowest of European leisure and hotel companies, she explains. From their initial recommendation that investors buy the stock through last month, Whitbread’s share price has more than tripled, rocketing 246 percent, to 5,005p. That performance was better even than the sector’s impressive gain of 105.6 percent over the period. During the 12 months through January, the stock gained 35.1 percent, besting its regional peers by 10.9 percentage points.