Consumer – Restaurants: Third

Sara Senatore
Sanford C. Bernstein & Co.

For the past two years, Sara Senatore has been an All-America Research Team Rising Star — an analyst who has been publishing research for less than three years but has already impressed money managers as one to watch. This year the Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. researcher makes her official team debut, laying claim to third place. Money managers say she is “supremely approachable” and has a “good grasp of key factors.” In late January Senatore informed clients that McDonald’s Corp.’s days of outperformance were over, and she reduced the stock to neutral. By the end of August, shares of the Oak Brook, Illinois–based fast-food giant had slumped 7.7 percent, from $96.96 to $89.49, and trailed the sector by 2.8 percentage points. “While the company remains a best-in-class competitor,” Senatore explains, “it was clear at the start of 2012 that headwinds in Europe were growing and competition had increased in the U.S.”

RUNNER(S)-UP

Joseph Buckley
Bank of America Merrill Lynch

David Palmer
UBS

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