J.P. Morgan lands in the winner’s circle for the first time since 1993. São Paulo–based Fernando Abdalla, who joined the firm in 2010 from Itaú BBA, guided the two-person team to third place last year; before that J.P. Morgan hadn’t ranked since 2008. Covering 14 companies — an increase of two since last summer, with two more on the way — the analysts are “growing their franchise with great energy,” cheers one booster. They upgraded Mexico’s Grupo Aeroportuario del Centro Norte from neutral to overweight in May 2012, at 26 pesos, largely on valuation, especially in light of the airport operator’s estimate-beating margins. In April, after the shares had jumped a whopping 95.2 percent, to 50.76 pesos, and trumped the sector by 80.2 percentage points, the researchers deemed them fully valued and moved them back to neutral. By mid-July they had tumbled 18.9 percent, to 41.15 pesos; during the same period the sector fell 16.2 percent. Abdalla, 29, earned a bachelor’s degree in production engineering at Brazil’s Instituto Mauá de Tecnologia. — Ben Mattlin |
Industries – Transportation: First
