Maurício Fernandes & team Bank of America Merrill Lynch
The buy side says: “Maurício is the complete package.”
Maurício Fernandes’s two-person team plants the Bank of America Merrill Lynch flag atop the summit for a fourth consecutive year. The São Paulo–based team is “my one-stop shop for Latam telecom research,” asserts one long-time client. Tracking a dozen companies, the analysts are singled out for staying with a long-standing buy on Mexico’s América Móvil, first upgraded from neutral back in October 2009 and highlighted repeatedly since. In August 2011, when the shares dipped to 13.52 pesos, partly on concern about the wireless provider’s plans to expand into Europe, they pounded the table. Good call: By the middle of July, the shares had rallied to N$17.58. It’s still among the team’s top picks. Fernandes, 38, “brings tremendous industry insights to the table and layers in strong management relationships,” declares one ally. — Ben Mattlin