< The 2015 All-America Research Team
Douglas Leggate
Bank of America Merrill Lynch
First-place appearances: 0
Total appearances: 3
Analyst debut: 2013
Bank of America Merrill Lynch researcher Douglas Leggate moves up one spot to third place on this list and earns the No. 2 spot on the Integrated Oil roster. Convinced that current oil prices are unsustainable, Leggate foresees significant volatility and recommends a strategy to deal with it: “retain a conservative ‘seat at the table’ to ensure exposure to what we view as an inevitable recovery,” he advises. Accordingly, his stock screening emphasizes “strong balance sheets, asset depth and a combination of either growth or preparedness to monetize assets.” The names that best suit the researcher’s theme, he concludes, include Woodlands, Texas–based Anadarko Petroleum Corp.; New York’s Hess Corp.; Occidental Petroleum Corp. of Houston; and Pioneer Natural Resources Co., which is headquartered in Irving, Texas. Moreover, for Pioneer, in particular, Leggate reports having been “appalled by the extent to which short-selling headlines could impact the share price with what we viewed as simplistic analysis.” The 49-year-old’s “approach is more proactive than reactive,” confirms one portfolio manager, who also hails “the depth and originality of his research.”