< The 2015 All-Europe Research Team
Melissa Earlam & team
UBS
First-place appearances: 7
Total appearances: 28
Team debut: 1990
For a second consecutive year, the London-based UBS duo helmed by Melissa Earlam, 38, lands in second place. Throughout 2014, Earlam and her colleague pounded the table on Belgian beverages giant Anheuser-Busch InBev, producer of such major labels as Beck’s, Budweiser, Corona and Stella Artois. In April they made waves in the drinks industry by suggesting that AB InBev might do well to purchase U.K.-based competitor SABMiller, arguing that a combination of the world’s largest brewers could deliver $1 billion in savings. In September, when news circulated that AB InBev was investigating possible financing for the acquisition the analysts described, the Belgian brewer’s shares soared. AB InBev’s stock price gained 14.1 percent in 2014 through September, besting the regional market by 10.2 percentage points — and giving their happy clients a good reason to toast them. Earlam then discontinued coverage, in preparation for her departure from UBS — where she had worked for 17 years — disappointing many of her fans on the buy side. “It’s a pity that she decided to leave,” laments one admirer. The researcher joined U.K. hedge fund firm Landsdowne Partners in January.