Consumer – Restaurants: First

In first place for a third year running is John Glass, 48, of Morgan Stanley. “He’s an outstanding analyst who thinks outside the bun and works very hard to deliver value,” proclaims one client. Glass, who is based in Boston, is tentative on his sector — but optimistically so. “Restaurants have a way of outperforming the market,” he says, pointing out that in nine of the past 12 years, the space managed to do just that. He is currently offering investors three main pillars of advice: Diversify by choosing stocks with global exposure; “play defense” by staying in companies with strong, resilient franchises; and “focus on names that have idiosyncratic sales drivers.” One example of the latter is Panera Bread Co. He upgraded the stock from neutral to overweight in January, at $148.82, on the strength of the St. Louis–based bakery-­café chain’s growth prospects. In July the company reported that revenue had risen 17.6 percent year-over-­year in the second quarter, to $530.6 million, and by late August the stock had climbed 4.1 percent, to $154.90, outpacing the sector by 7.9 percentage points.