Bharat Parekh, Matthew Spence & team Bank of America Merrill Lynch
The buy side says: “We turn to them for their original thoughts and courageous calls.”
On top for a second straight year is the Bank of America Merrill Lynch trio guided by Mumbai-based Bharat Parekh, 41, and returning co-leader Matthew Spence, who works out of Sydney. The analysts, who track about 30 stocks, “understand better than anyone else when businesses take a turn for the worse,” contends one supporter. The team lowered India’s Adani Enterprises from buy to neutral in August, at 601.95 rupees, on weak margins, among other concerns. The stock plummeted 49.4 percent, to Rs304.85, through March. Current picks include Australia’s QR National, a rail freight provider, partly on its dominant coal-hauling operations. Parekh joined the firm in 2000 from Indian brokerage Prabhudas Lilladher; he holds an MBA from India’s Institute of Technology and Management. Spence, 38, went to BofA Merrill in 2004 from Deutsche Bank and earned a bachelor’s degree in economics at the University of Melbourne. — Ben Mattlin