< The 2014 All-America Research TeamMichael GambardellaJ.P. MorganFirst-place appearances: 8
Total appearances: 18
Team debut: 1995J.P. Morgan’s Michael Gambardella claims the No. 2 position on this roster for a second straight year. From his base in Stuart, Florida, the analyst monitors 22 U.S. metals and mining names and is considered “the authority on aluminum,” one asset manager reports. Noting in January that aluminum markets were tightening, Gambardella recommended overweighting the nation’s No. 1 and No. 2 producers of the metal, New York’s Alcoa and Chicago-based Century Aluminum Co. Alcoa he raised from neutral, and by mid-September its stock had soared 45.3 percent, to $16.39. Century, elevated from underweight, performed even better, skyrocketing 136.4 percent, to $26.29. During the same period, the sector rose by 6.4 percent. Investors hail the researcher for his May downgrade of Molycorp from neutral to underweight in May. Management of the Greenwood Village, Colorado–based minerals miner was burning through cash at an accelerated rate, he advised, and delivering weak results in the chemicals and oxides business. Through mid-September the share price plummeted 58.8 percent, to $1.53, compared with the sector’s gain of 7 percent.