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Stephen Kim returns to the roster for the first time since 2007, when he was with Citi. The third-teamer left that firm the following year, then worked at Milwaukee-based broker-dealer Quasar Distributors before moving to Barclays in May 2011. Clients credit him with being among the first last fall to predict an upturn in the housing market. “It was a very bold, gutsy call,” marvels one fund manager. “If he missed the [actual] bottom, it was by no more than six trading days.” The analyst is currently overweighting Miami’s Lennar Corp. on the view that the entire sector “is in the early stages of a multiyear recovery, with improved home-buying sentiment driving a positive feedback loop in housing markets across the country,” he explains. “Against this favorable backdrop, we consider Lennar to be the premier company in the homebuilding sector, with the potential to use this next housing recovery to move into a materially higher valuation range.” Another top pick: Mohawk Industries, a floor-covering manufacturer headquartered in Calhoun, Georgia. Investors have underestimated the potential upside to earnings in the improving housing market, because “30 percent of its sales come from new construction and maintenance repair demand,” Kim explains. RUNNER(S)-UP Stephen East ISI Group David Goldberg UBS Daniel Oppenheim Credit Suisse Nishu Sood Deutsche Bank Securities |
Consumer – Homebuilders & Building Products: Third