Consumer – Food Producers: Second

Credit Suisse’s team of three under Charles Mills, who is headquartered in London, and Zurich-based David Alexander Molloy reclaims second place after spending last year in third. The researchers report on 11 companies across multiple sectors, including beverages, food producers, and household and personal care products. “We think food companies are a little expensive compared to other consumer staples,” says Mills. Even so, the crew remains bullish on the prospects of U.K.-based Associated British Foods, a stock they have been regularly and consistently recommending since March 2011, most recently on the strength of its “brilliant retail operation, Primark, which has enormous potential to expand throughout Europe,” he explains. Last year the stock shot up 44.3 percent, from 1,084.15p to 1,564p, and bested the sector by 34.4 percentage points. The analysts publish “thoughtful and insightful research in a very commoditized and overbrokered sector,” applauds one London-based hedge fund manager. — Katie Gilbert