The 2015 All-Europe Research Team: Capital Goods, No. 2: Andreas Willi & team

Holding on to the No. 2 position on this lineup is J.P. Morgan Cazenove’s five-strong crew piloted by Andreas Willi.

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< The 2015 All-Europe Research Team

2015-03-tom-johnson-all-europe-research-team-andreas-willi.jpg

Andreas Willi & team
J.P. Morgan Cazenove
First-place appearances: 4

Total appearances: 18

Team debut: 1986

Holding on to the No. 2 position on this lineup is J.P. Morgan Cazenove’s five-strong crew piloted by Andreas Willi. The London-based researchers “are more pro-active than their peers,” insists one fund manager in Portugal. Covering 40 European capital goods names, the team is best known for its recent cautious views, investors say. For instance, the group’s February 2013 downgrade of Outotec still generates praise. Demand and profits were declining for the Finnish company — which provides engineering services and equipment for use in sustainable mining — prompting the analysts to lower their rating on the stock from neutral to underweight, at €12.25. That downgrade proved well timed: Outotec peaked at €12.95 later that month but has not traded above €12 since March 2013. By the end of January 2015, it had plummeted 58.1 percent, to €5.13, and lagged the sector by 78.3 percentage points. Over the trailing 12-month period alone, it sank 33.4 percent, underperforming its peers by 36.3 percentage points. Looking ahead, Willi and his colleagues “expect organic sales growth to improve modestly,” says the 44-year-old leader. Among their favorites going forward is Austrian industrial lighting developer Zumtobel Group, thanks to management’s recent cost cutting, as well as rising demand for the company’s LED products.

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