Heading the roster for a sixth year running is Jamie Baker. The J.P. Morgan analyst reports on 16 companies and is lauded for his “in-depth coverage of the on-again, off-again American Airlines–U.S. Airways merger talks, separating fact from rumor,” as one fan says. In February, a week after they made public a potential deal, Baker, 45, upgraded Tempe, Arizona’s U.S. Airways Group from neutral to overweight, at $13.33, and reinitiated coverage of bankrupt AMR Corp., operator of American Airlines, with an overweight, at $2.51. Delving into Fort Worth, Texas–based AMR’s ability to repay its debt postmerger, he determined that its embattled shares offered “option-like leverage to moves in U.S. Airways’ share price,” Baker explains. The latter’s stock peaked at $19.38 in early August, and AMR’s reached $6.05 — only to plunge days later when the U.S. Justice Department announced it intended to block the $11 billion tie-up. Baker reduced both to neutral. U.S. Airways’ shares had trailed the sector by 4.8 percentage points, while AMR’s led it by 1.2 percentage points, and that trend continued. The Arizona carrier’s stock closed August at $16.16; its Texas counterpart’s climbed to $3.54. Though he admits to “diminished near-term enthusiasm,” Baker says he is still “favorably disposed to airline equities longer term.” — Ben Mattlin |
The 2013 All-America Research Team: Airlines, No. 1: Jamie Baker
