Keefe, Bruyette & Woods analyst Sanjay Sakhrani holds on to No. 1. Sakhrani maintains a positive view of his sector, noting that valuations are attractive on both an absolute basis and as against other financials’. Factors shaping his outlook include the secular trend of payment methods’ moving to electronic and plastic from cash and checks, resilient macroeconomic dynamics that have boosted credit quality in the card space and the strong capital levels at many companies that position them well “to return most or all of the capital they generate,” he says. “He’s very knowledgeable about the industry,” asserts one fan. Visa, based in Foster City, California, and Purchase, New York’s MasterCard are two of the 38-year-old’s favorites because the financial services providers are poised to benefit the most “from the global adoption of electronic payments in our coverage universe,” Sakhrani says. He also points clients toward eBay, citing the San Jose, California–based e-commerce behemoth’s prospects “when looking forward to a mobile-payments environment,” as well as Capital One Financial Corp., because the McLean, Virginia–based credit card issuer has a “predisposition in the sub- to near-prime space that’s a point of differentiation and could be an area of growth as the macroeconomic environment improves.” — Carolyn Koo |
The 2013 All-America Research Team: Consumer Finance, No. 1: Sanjay Sakhrani
