< The 2014 All-America Research TeamEric Weissenstein & teamGuggenheim SecuritiesFirst-place appearances: 0
Total appearances: 18
Team debut: 1996Newcomer Eric Weissenstein directs Guggenheim Securities’ eight-person squad, which claimed the No. 2 position from 2010 through 2013 and now slips to third place. He takes over from Edward Garlich Jr., who retired last October after building this team and leading it from its 1996 debut on this list until last year. Clients hail the researchers for their advance work on the sector. “Rather than reacting to events, they are anticipatory, able to tell you what’s coming down the pike in Washington,” one backer declares. “They are also really good about getting the word out as quickly as possible — honestly, I can’t say enough good about the firm.” Among the subjects they have been covering recently are the U.S. general elections in November, U.S. companies’ use of so-called inversions to escape domestic taxation, regulation of the telecommunications industry and the evolution of energy sectors. Weissenstein and his crew are less bullish than other D.C. analysts that Republicans will be taking the Senate, he reports. On the subject of inversions, they don’t believe that “the White House will do anything meaningful,” says Weissenstein. “We just don’t think that tax issues get much of a populist response” with voters. On telecom issues, they don’t expect the U.S. Federal Communications Commission to impose “utility-like” regulation on broadband, he advises, which they deem a positive development for cable operators Cablevison Systems Corp. of Bethpage, New York; Stamford, Connecticut’s Charter Communications; Philadelphia-based Comcast Corp., and Time Warner Cable of New York. Finally, regarding energy industries, “the odds are low but rising,” Weissenstein says, that Washington will lift the ban on crude oil exportation, which would benefit U.S. exploration and production companies but have a negative impact on domestic refining.