David Tailleur & team, Rabobank
The buy side says: “They have their ears close to the ground.”
David Tailleur, 38, leads the Rabobank troupe of 13 to a second consecutive first-place finish. “They provide us with a lot of good local color on pricing, competition and litigation issues,” says one ally. The analysts, based in Utrecht, cover 94 stocks, and Tailleur says that number will likely grow to more than 100 this year. In July the team published a special report, “Reality Check,” in which it turned bearish ahead of its competitors, slashing earnings estimates by as much as 20 percent below consensus in light of the region’s sluggish economic conditions. By late December the Luxembourg Stock Exchange LuxX index had fallen 16.5 percent; the Euronext Brussels Bel20 index, 15.1 percent; and the Euronext Amsterdam AEX index, 5.5 percent. During the same period the Euronext 100 index tumbled 12.2 percent. The researchers are forecasting a “mild — or even severe — recession, at least in the euro zone” in the first half of 2012, Tailleur says.