< The 2015 All-America Research Team
Shaun Kelley
Bank of America Merrill Lynch
First-place appearances: 0
Total appearances: 7
Analyst debut: 2009
It’s four years in a row at No. 2 for Bank of America Merrill Lynch’s Shaun Kelley, whose “stock picks and analytical skills are second to none,” one portfolio manager insists. Reporting on 30 U.S. gaming and lodging companies, Kelley “takes more initiative than his peer group,” remarks another enthusiast, who singles out the analyst’s October 2014 move on Las Vegas–based casino owner Wynn Resorts. Kelley reduced his rating on the company from buy to neutral, citing earnings pressure in Wynn’s Macau properties from an economic slowdown in China and Beijing’s anticorruption campaign. By mid-September the stock had plunged 59.2 percent, to $68.44, while the sector had climbed 17.1 percent. The BofA Merrill researcher is sticking with his long-standing buy position on Vail Resorts of Broomfield, Colorado, however. In June 2014 he highlighted his positive outlook. Although the shares had already climbed 21.5 percent during the preceding 12-month period, leading the sector by 3.3 percentage points, he foresaw additional upside thanks largely to the ski resort operator and real estate developer’s solid pricing power and strong free-cash-flow generation. He was right. Through the middle of last month, Vail Resorts jumped 43.3 percent, to $106, besting the sector by 38.1 percentage points.