Itaú BBA slips from first place to second. The quartet is conducted by Marcos Assumpção, who also guides a runner-up team in Metals & Mining. The analysts relaunched coverage of Brazil’s Suzano Papel e Celulose in September with a buy rating, at 4.46 reais, primarily on valuation. They reiterated the call in November, after the São Paulo–based leader returned from China and reported that Chinese paper demand was strong enough to drive pulp prices higher. By mid-July the specialty-paper producer’s shares had skyrocketed 84.1 percent, to 8.21 reais, and soared past the sector by 70.1 percentage points. The researchers remain bullish. “Marcos is very good on pulp pricing,” cheers one investor. — Ben Mattlin |
Industries – Pulp & Paper: Second