< The 2015 All-Europe Research Team
Andrew Wood
Sanford C. Bernstein
First-Place Appearances: 6
Total Appearances: 9
Team Debut: 2007
For a sixth year running, Andrew Wood plants the Sanford C. Bernstein flag atop this lineup and the Food Producers list. He impresses investors with what one admirer describes as his “unique research approach via ‘category growth leverage.’” Now working solo from his base in Singapore, the researcher acknowledges that last year was tough for European household and personal care companies. Weak markets and strong competitive and promotional pressures resulted in a dramatic slowdown in their top-line growth, he explains. But he sees rosier times ahead, predicting that the third quarter of 2014 will prove to be the sector’s nadir. By the end of September, the shares had traded nearly flat for the year to date and trailed their regional peers by 2 percentage points. Since then, however, they have turned positive, posting a rise of 18.1 percent through last month and outdistancing the broad European market by 14.6 percenage points. “We should see a steady improvement in top-line growth going forward over 2015, helped by the U.S., the largest household and personal care products market, which is showing signs of an uptick,” the 50-year-old analyst contends. One name he has recommended despite the recent market challenges is England’s Reckitt Benckiser Group. Wood issued his initial outperform rating on the shares in April 2011, and he has reiterated his position many times since, most recently this month, when he boosted his price objective to 6,100p. In late December management completed its spin-off the company’s pharmaceuticals business, and as it continues to shift focus toward the consumer health segment — “an attractive, fast-growth and high-margin business” — he reasons, Reckitt Benckiser will enjoy a competitive advantage against pure pharma players.