Eva Quiroga & team, UBS

Eva Quiroga’s three-member team at UBS repeats in third place. The analysts plan to add to the ten companies they cover by expanding into the luxury goods space this year. London-based Quiroga is “not overly optimistic heading into 2012, as the sector continues to be overexposed to Western Europe,” which, she says, “will remain a difficult market.” The researchers currently favor manufacturers of personal care products over makers of household items, primarily because of aging, image-conscious consumers and increasingly elaborate skin-care routines in Asian markets. The best bets, Quiroga says, are companies with dominant market shares, such as French cosmetics maker L’Oréal. According to one buy-side backer, it’s this type of “excellent sector analysis” that sets this team apart from its rivals.