< The 2014 All-America Research TeamHunter KeayWolfe ResearchFirst-Place Appearances: 0
Total Appearances: 3
Analyst Debut: 2012Advancing to third place after two years at runner-up is Hunter Keay of Wolfe Research. “Hunter’s stock calls are prescient and bold,” attests one fund manager. Keay helped investors make money from the merger between Tempe, Arizona’s US Airways Group and AMR Corp., the Fort Worth, Texas–based parent company of American Airlines. He resumed coverage on bankrupt AMR’s over-the-counter shares in October 2013 with an outperform rating, primarily on valuation. By December, when the merger closed and those securities ceased trading, they had reached $11.39, having soared 149.8 percent and far surpassed the sector’s 19 percent gain since his initiation. The analyst expects the surviving entity, American Airlines Group, to likewise outperform, citing “merger synergies.” His price objective of $54 implies a 45.7 percent upside to the stock’s mid-September value. He has been similarly bullish on the prospects for Spirit Airlines, an ultralow-cost carrier headquartered in Miramar, Florida. Keay upgraded Spirit from peer perform to outperform in September 2013, crediting in part its accelerated sales growth. In mid-August, with the shares at $68.96 — up 101.8 percent, and leading their peers by 40.4 percentage points — he reiterated the endorsement on strong demand from bargain shoppers.
RUNNER(S)-UP
Glenn Engel
Bank of America Merrill Lynch
Michael Linenberg
Deutsche Bank Securities