< The 2015 All-America Research Team
Scott Davis
Barclays
First-Place Appearances: 5
Total Appearances: 11
Analyst Debut: 2005
Barclays’s Scott Davis, who registers his fourth straight No. 1 showing, is “a long-term voice of reason” on U.S. electrical equipment and multi-industry names, one client says. The 47-year-old researcher’s “historical perspective and deep-dive research always prove helpful,” another admirer concurs. Reporting on 27 companies in this space, Davis currently is bullish on General Electric Co. and Honeywell International. He elevated GE to a top pick in March, crediting potential gains from management’s selling of assets in the diversified conglomerate’s lending division, General Electric Capital Corp., to shed the unit’s designation as a systemically important financial institution and focus on industrial manufacturing. Also compelling are the Fairfield, Connecticut–based company’s high dividend yield and improving margins, he noted. The shares had inched up 1.5 percent by mid-September, to $24.80, which was far better than the sector’s decline of 14.1 percent. Davis predicts that they will rise as high as $33 in the next 12 months. Honeywell, a multinational technology and manufacturing giant headquartered in Morristown, New Jersey, has been among the analyst’s favorite names for a dozen years. Thanks to steady margin expansion, he continues to recommended overweighting the stock. During the 12 months through mid-September, it outperformed its peers by 21.4 percentage points, rising 3.8 percent, to $98.04. His price objective for Honeywell is $118. “Scott thoughtfully characterizes companies and stocks on a conceptual and management-centric basis,” observes a third fund manager. Indeed, sums up another advocate, Davis’s “competitive edge is his considerable experience and access to managements.”