The 2013 All-America Research Team: Alternative Energy, No. 1: Satya Kumar

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Satya Kumar
Credit Suisse

First-place appearances: 1

Total appearances: 5

Analyst debut: 2009

Satya Kumar, 38, catapults from runner-up to claim his first No. 1 finish; he also claims second place in Semiconductor Capital Equipment. After nearly ten years at Credit Suisse, Boston-based Kumar jumped to the buy side in August. He now covers semiconductor manufacturers at Putnam Investments. Clients will likely miss what one terms his “strong technical knowledge and ability to identify the relevant controversies.” For example, the analyst has been closely following a prickly problem in the solar subsector. “Prices have stopped falling, which is a very big deal in a commodity sector,” although there is still excess capacity, mostly in China. “Investors have struggled to figure out how exactly is that capacity going to be rationalized,” he explains. “Are people going to shut those capacities, or is it just going to lie around waiting for demand to increase?” Kumar deems the light-emitting diodes subsector tops among the green technologies. “If you’re trying to lower carbon emissions,” he advises, “switching from conventional forms of lighting to LED is the cheapest cost for the maximum benefit.” Kumar joined Credit Suisse from Applied Materials. He earned an MBA at the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley. — Carolyn Koo

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