< The 2015 All-America Research Team

Total Appearances: 9

Analyst Debut: 2004

For a fourth consecutive year, Philip Cusick commands first place on this roster — and as he has done since 2013, the J.P. Morgan researcher earns the No. 2 position on the Cable & Satellite lineup. He tracks 24 U.S. telecommunications companies and oversees his associates’ coverage of five more. “Phil is very knowledgeable and very accessible as well,” one backer declares. Another portfolio manager deems him a “great stock picker and well connected within the telecoms industry.” Cusick, 41, is neutral on this sector, citing slow industry growth in wireless and wireline, both. Regarding specific subsectors, he recommends that investors favor tower companies over service providers. “We expect wireless competition to remain intense but rational and do not look for dramatic reductions in pricing. Sprint [Corp.] is the wild card in wireless — we have been and remain skeptical that the company will return to significant growth and prefer T-Mobile [US],” says the researcher. Among wireline companies he favors Internet-protocol players, such as Broomfield, Colorado’s Level 3 Communications and Boulder, Colorado–based Zayo Group Holdings, over traditional rural local exchange carriers, or RLECs. However, Frontier Communications Corp. in Stamford, Connecticut, does win his favor, based on valuation and “potential accretion” from its agreement to purchase Verizon Communications’ wireline assets in California, Florida and Texas, Cusick reports. Finally, his preferred tower names are Boston-headquartered American Tower Corp. and SBA Communications Corp. in Boca Raton, Florida.