At No. 1 for a third year running is the Bank of America Merrill Lynch team captained by Michael Harris, 43. “He is a master of Turkey’s bond and currency markets, which can be tricky but are essential to understanding the country’s economy,” observes one backer. The strategists have been advising clients to overweight Turkish equities, and they predict that the nation’s stock exchange “will end 2013 up double-digits higher,” says Harris, who also helms the No. 1 crews in CEEMEA and Emerging-Europe equity strategy and co-leads, with Stephen Pettyfer, the top-ranked troop in Middle East & North Africa Equity Strategy. The Borsa Istanbul Stock Exchange National 100 Index surged 19.1 percent year-to-date through mid-May before political unrest triggered a sell-off; even so, it ended that month up 9.9 percent for the year. “Turkey remains in an economic sweet spot against a global backdrop of low growth,” the London-based leader asserts. “It is one country that does not need to see an improvement in the global growth outlook to work — low rates are enough.” Recommended stocks include Türkiye Garanti Bankas?, owing to its “strong deposit growth, high trading gains and eye-catching growth in noninterest income,” Harris says, and automaker Ford Otomotiv Sanayi, which “will witness rising profitability from the second half onward.” — Paul Sweeney |
Economics & Strategy – Turkey Equity Strategy: First
