The 2014 All-Russia Research Team: Oil & Gas, No. 2: Dmitry Loukashov

Marking his third consecutive year at No. 2 on this list is Dmitry Loukashov, whose sector portfolio encompasses 20 companies. The VTB Capital analyst wins plaudits for his dexterous stock picking. “Dmitry’s timing has been impeccable,” avows one fund manager in New York. Clients cite in particular his coverage of C.A.T. Oil, an Austria-based provider of oil field services in Kazakhstan and Russia. In November, C.A.T. Oil’s shares had rocketed an astounding 218.2 percent for that year to date and trounced the sector’s 4.4 percent gain, prompting Loukashov to downgrade them from buy all the way to sell, at €21.45. He advised clients, as well, that the company was facing increased intervention from state-controlled rivals. Sure enough, the stock tumbled to €16.50 in early February — lagging the sector by 17.3 percentage points — and Loukashov judged it fairly valued, raising it to hold. C.A.T. closed May at €18.80. Looking ahead, the researcher pegs Moscow-based Gazprom, which is among the world’s largest natural-gas extractors, as most likely to emerge unscathed from the current economic slowdown and “external political situation,” he says.