The 2014 All-Brazil Research Team: Financials/Nonbanks, No. 2: Alexandre Spada

Alexandre Spada Itaú BBA First-place appearances: 0

Total appearances: 2

Team debut: 2013 Repeating in second place on this list is Itaú BBA’s Alexandre Spada, who “is an extremely diligent and detailed-oriented analyst,” one advocate avers. “He knows the stocks he covers like no one else, understands the revenue and margin drivers, and knows strategy and managements quite well.” Spada intends to add coverage of two names before the end of the year and reports that all seven stocks currently in his sector portfolio outperformed the Índice Bovespa in the first half of 2014. Indeed, Brazilian nonfinancial institutions overall bested that domestic benchmark by 20.3 percentage points over the period. Looking ahead, he does not expect to see the same outperformance, as “some valuations are quite stretched at this time,” he notes. The analyst does, however, identify select opportunities for investors. For example, among the names he still finds attractive are Rio de Janeiro–based Cetip, which organizes Brazil’s over-the-counter markets; and São Paulo’s Smiles, manager of airline Gol Linhas Aéreas Inteligentes’s loyalty program and other frequent-flier schemes. “Cetip tends to benefit from changes in the regulatory environment in Brazil, given the nature of its businesses,” says Spada, while Smiles’ “earnings momentum continues to be compelling.”

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