< The 2014 All-America Research TeamJohn HodulikUBSFirst-place appearances: 3
Total appearances: 12
Team debut: 2003A runner-up on this list every year since 2011, UBS’s John Hodulik rises to No. 3; he also earns his third straight runner-up showing in Cable & Satellite this year. Hodulik reports on 20 telecommunications services names, and although he maintains a neutral stance on the sector overall, he is bullish on tower companies. In particular, he is touting Boston’s American Tower Corp. and Houston-based Crown Castle International Corp., forecasting that competitive forces will require all of the carriers to increase spending on their wireless networks. At $106 and $88, respectively, his price objectives for American Tower’s and Crown Castle’s shares imply upsides of 11.4 percent and 12.3 percent to the stocks’ trading values in mid-September. His favorite player in the wireless space — indeed, the only wireless provider that earns a buy rating from the analyst — is T-Mobile US of Bellevue, Washington. Hodulik upgraded T-Mobile from neutral to buy in May 2013, deeming the U.S.’s No. 4 wireless carrier near an inflection point that should reverse a years-long trend of losing postpaid subscribers. He was right: Management soon turned the tide and by last month was able to announce that T-Mobile had added a record 552,000 postpaid customers in August 2014. The stock has more than kept pace, rocketing 63 percent by mid-September, to $30.38, and trouncing the sector by 68.2 percentage points. “John marries his top-down industry view with a detailed bottom-up approach,” remarks one admirer. “No one models these companies better.”