Ilze Roux & team Bank of America
Merrill Lynch First-Place Appearances: 1
Total Appearances: 4
Team Debut: 2011 Ilze Roux and her Bank of America Merrill Lynch team claim first place, rising from No. 2 to deliver the firm’s first top finish on this list. The 40-year-old crew chief, who also leads the top-ranked squad in Transportation this year, joined BofA Merrill in 2003 from Nedcor Securities, where she worked as a small-caps trainee then an industrials analyst. She previously worked in the specialist financial services division of KPMG and holds a bachelor’s degree in accounting from South Africa’s Rand Afrikaans University. Roux’s group of seven strategists covers 11 emerging Europe, Middle East & Africa construction and engineering names from their bases in Dubai, Istanbul and Johannesburg. The sector has performed very differently across the area’s markets, she says. In the Middle East & North Africa, “the contractors have been exceptionally strong, benefiting from a significant increase in tender awards in the region,” Roux notes, and Turkey-listed construction companies have outperformed their domestic market, which was under pressure in the first quarter. “Cement companies in Africa have also performed strongly, given the expansion,” she adds, “while those in MENA countries are now running at capacity, limiting upside.” Against this backdrop, the researchers are sticking with long-standing favorite Enka İnşaat ve Sanayi. The Turkish construction conglomerate is appealing thanks to its “growth in the real estate sector, visible cash flow from power, and cash piles equal to 25 percent of market cap,” explains Roux. Enka’s stock jumped 26.2 percent over the 12 months through May, to 5.83 lira, while the sector slipped 4.8 percent. Her team maintains a target price of 7.50 lira. Another top pick is Nigeria’s Dangote Cement, which the analysts deem well positioned to benefit from Africa’s infrastructure investment potential. They project that its shares can rise 9.4 percent from their 235 naira value at the end of May.