Andrew Kearnan & team Bank of America Merrill Lynch
The buy side says: “Strong, ahead-of-the-curve analytical work — and great market calls.”
Jumping from third place to first is Bank of America Merrill Lynch’s 40-strong crew headed by Sydney-based Andrew Kearnan, 44. The analysts’ coverage list has ramped up over the past two years, from 120 companies to roughly 200 today — including Treasury Wine Estates, added in May 2011 with a buy rating, at A$3.15, largely on its cash-rich, low-debt balance sheet. Shares of the Victoria-based winemaker bubbled up 30.2 percent, to A$4.10, and shot past Australia’s broad market by 37.8 percentage points, through March. Clients also single out October’s initiation on Campbell Brothers with a buy, at A$39.09, on its aggressive growth strategy. The Queensland-based chemicals supplier’s stock had skyrocketed 72 percent, to A$67.23, by the end of March. “We count on them for detailed work on underlying drivers and local chatter,” explains one backer. Kearnan, who earned an MBA at the University of Western Australia, joined Merrill in 1997 from Royal & SunAlliance Insurance (now RSA Insurance Group), where he had been a special-projects researcher. — Ben Mattlin