< The 2015 All-Europe Research Team
Daniele Brupbacher & team
UBS
First-Place Appearances: 15
Total Appearances: 30
Team Debut: 1992
Daniele Brupbacher, who debuted last year, leads his Zurich-based team of ten analysts in reporting on some 90 Swiss companies. The group earns encomiums for their broad reach and the high quality of their research product. “They’re all over Europe and extremely good on the midcaps — particularly in Switzerland — where they’re absolutely up to standard,” says one Parisian client. “It’s a good team effort.” The analysts are highlighting Novartis International as a top pick. The Basel-based global pharmaceuticals powerhouse, they advise, is launching two potentially blockbuster drugs in 2015: the much-heralded LCZ696, an experimental heart-failure medicine which in a landmark clinical trial reduced cardiovascular deaths by 20 percent compared with an older angiotensin-converting-enzyme, or ACE, inhibitor; and Cosentyx, an effective psoriasis therapy whose prospects have been overshadowed by the excitement over LCZ696. As a result, this year could prove critical for Novartis. The developer “has a strong track record of launching specialty drugs,” says Brupbacher, 40. “We expect attractive growth rates in various relevant drug markets, including specialty drugs.” In addition, improving performance from its Alcon eye care division and Sandoz generics unit should produce additional upside, he notes. His team’s price objective for Novartis is Sf110; the stock closed January at Sf90.53. Another name the researchers are touting is Lonza Group, a biotechnology and chemicals player headquartered in Basel. They have pegged the stock at Sf140, which implies a 28.4 percent upside to its value in late January. Drivers of the share price include 4 to 4.5 percent organic growth, management’s strict controls on capital expenditures and the company’s “increased margins,” says Brupbacher. Lonza still trades at a discount to both specialty chemicals and biopharmaceuticals peers, he adds, and “in the current business environment, companies meeting targets and generating cash flows in chemicals get awarded high premiums.”