< The 2015 All-Europe Research Team
Pierre Ferragu
Sanford C. Bernstein
First-place appearances: 3
Total appearances: 8
Team debut: 2007
Sanford C. Bernstein advances from third place to claim the No. 2 position on this list. Pierre Ferragu, 40, has relocated from London to New York and now works alone in reporting on 14 European hardware names. “The outlook for telecommunications equipment in 2015 remains strong, with steady spending in the U.S., even in the context of a pullback in [capital expenditures], continued spending in China as well and strong growth in Europe,” he advises. “In wireless we expect an improving mix in most regions. As a result, we expect spending to grow in the 5 percent region and gross margins to expand.” The analyst’s top pick for that subsector is Alcatel-Lucent, “whose successful turnaround should drive a material profitability uplift in 2015,” he contends. At €3.50, his price objective for the French provider implies a 13.3 percent upside to the stock’s value at the end of January. In European semiconductors he favors Germany’s Infineon Technologies. “The company is on its way to dominate the power semiconductor industry and is on a trajectory to materially increase earnings for multiple years as a result,” Ferragu contends. The shares ended January at €9.98, just shy of his €10 target.