Robert Buhr & team
Société Générale
Newcomer Robert Buhr guides the previously unranked Société Générale squad to third place. The London-based group of seven tracks some 60 companies. “There are few names left with any potential alpha still attached to them,” Buhr notes, but the analysts make an exception for the 2013 and 2022 notes of Italian aerospace and defense contractor Finmeccanica. When first recommended back in November 2011 — on the strength of the company’s restructuring plans, strong liquidity and debt-reduction targets — the 2013 notes were at 102.5 percent of par and the 2022 notes were at 70 percent. By mid-January 2013 they had risen to 106.545 percent and 104.379 percent, respectively, and the crew maintains its buy rating. “The team is coming up strong,” marvels one portfolio manager in New York. — Ben Mattlin