Andrew Wood & team, Sanford C. Bernstein
The buy side says: “Andrew publishes the best research product in the space.”
It’s three in a row for the three-member Sanford C. Bernstein team guided by Andrew Wood, who also leads the top crew in Household & Personal Care Products. Until August the 47-year-old was based in New York (where the rest of his team remains), but he’s now in Singapore, issuing research on the four companies they cover. The analysts are advising clients to proceed with caution, making the case that decelerating growth and subdued sales volumes across the board will be a drag on the sector. “The true opportunity comes from picking the winners in the group,” says Wood. One example: U.K.-based foods and consumer goods giant Unilever, which the researchers first upgraded from neutral to buy in May 2009 and reiterated in August 2011. The stock rose 10.2 percent last year and beat the sector by 7.1 percentage points.