< The 2014 All-Europe Research Team
In his 2012 debut, Richard Chamberlain directed Bank of America Merrill Lynch’s squad to its first top-three finish in more than a decade. Last year, Chamberlain and his colleagues climbed from No. 3 to No. 2, and this year they take the final step up to finish on top — a position the firm hasn’t captured since 1998. The team of three covers 19 stocks from London, and expects “more of a stock-picking environment in 2014, following a great year for the sector,” says Chamberlain, 39. Shares of Europe’s general retailers gained 27 percent last year, while the broad market was up 18.1 percent. “We would focus on buying stocks with likely earnings upgrades,” he adds, “and those with further structural rerating potential — and we would avoid shares [that] lack earnings momentum.” Swedish clothing and accessories retailer Hennes & Mauritz is an example of a stock investors should prefer, he says, thanks to gross-margin upside linked to a strong euro and cheap cotton, as well as exposure to the German consumer market. His team upgraded H&M from neutral to buy in July, very near the stock’s 52-week low. By the end of the year, it had leaped 34.4 percent, to €296.20, against the broad market’s 23.2 percent rise. One Italian portfolio manager praises the BofA Merrill crew for its “right calls on some specific stocks — H&M, in particular — made with perfect timing.” Chamberlain joined the firm as a general retailing analyst in 2009. He previously covered retailing and other consumer equities at Goldman Sachs International and then J.P. Morgan Cazenove. A chartered accountant who trained at Arthur Andersen in the U.K. (now Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu), Chamberlain earned a degree in law and history from England’s University of Exeter. See also Richard Chamberlain's profile in the 2013 All-Europe Research Team and the 2012 All-Europe Research Team. |
