< The 2015 All-Europe Research Team
Harold Thompson & team
Deutsche Bank
First-place appearances: 0
Total appearances: 10
Team debut: 2005
With their No. 2 finish this year, Harold Thompson and his Deutsche Bank crew in London extend their hold on second place to a fifth consecutive year. Their “strong research pieces” and “good accessibility” earn special mention from one satisfied client. The 36-year-old crew chief — who also co-captains, with Gerry Gallagher, a runner-up team in Food Producers — reports that his group is bullish on the region’s household and personal care products companies. The shares rose 24.9 percent over the 12 months through January, compared with the regional broad market’s gain of 8 percent, and the analysts forecast that the trend will continue. “We can see decades of growth ahead of us,” Thompson says. “Those [investors] that look short term will never understand the value of staples companies.” Their favorite name in the space is U.K. consumer goods giant Unilever. Deutsche’s analysts began urging investors to buy the stock in September 2013, at 2,457p, and by the end of last month, it had leaped to 2,930p — advancing 24.3 percent over the trailing 12-month period and besting its peers by 16.3 percentage points. Unilever is “showing good gross-margin development, investing in products and brands, cutting costs and increasing margins,” Thompson explains. “All in all, it is in robust shape.”