Filippo Lo Franco & team, J.P. Morgan Cazenove
The buy side says: “They provide the best modeling on the Street.”
J.P. Morgan Cazenove’s six-member squad claims No. 1 for a third straight year. Led by London-based Filippo Lo Franco, 42, the team garners praise from clients for its “old school” research that “separates fact from opinion.” The analysts expanded coverage by three companies last year, bringing their total to 37, and plan to add more small- and midcap stocks this year. In 2011 they found opportunities in publishing, making the case that investors were overstating the risks associated with piracy of electronic media. “We have been very active in analyzing the education market,” says Lo Franco. The team urged clients to buy Pearson in January 2011, at 1,039p, believing that the U.K.-based textbook publisher and online bookstore operator would continue to pick up market share. The stock rose 16.5 percent, to 1,210p, through December. The analysts are bearish on advertising agencies but do see hope on the horizon: “We expect the first five months to record negative ad spending growth in Europe, followed by a rebound in the third quarter and moderate growth in the fourth quarter,” Lo Franco says.