Vaulting from runner-up all the way to first place is the five-member Morgan Stanley squad led solely this year by Edward Hill-Wood; this group also captures third place in Telecommunications (with Cesar Tiron as co-captain in that sector). Headquartered in Russia, South Africa, the United Arab Emirates and the U.K., the analysts report on 30 stocks across both sectors and plan to increase that total this year. In January 2012 they upgraded Naspers from neutral to overweight, at 37,750 rand, largely on the strength of the South Africa–based diversified media company’s “structurally attractive assets,” the team leader says, such as its nearly 35 percent stake in Tencent Holdings, a China-based provider of online games and social networks. In mid-May 2013, Naspers’ shares jumped when Tencent reported that year-over-year net income in the first quarter had surged 37.1 percent, to 4.04 billion yuan ($645.1 million); by the end of that month, the stock had catapulted 97.4 percent, to 74,513 rand, and shot past the sector by a spectacular 105.6 percentage points. Looking ahead, “we have a positive view of the sector, as still relatively low valuations do not reflect the upward risk to earnings forecasts,” says Hill-Wood, 39. Recommendations include Russia’s Mail.ru Group, an e-mail services provider, and Yandex, which is headquartered in the Netherlands and operates Russia’s leading search engine. Hill-Wood, who covered European media names for Citi before moving to Morgan Stanley in 2004, holds a master’s degree in modern history from the U.K.’s University of Bristol. — Pam Baker |
Industries – Information Technology & Media: First
