Technology, Media & Telecommunications – Computer Services & IT Consulting: First

Sanford C. Bernstein & Co.’s Roderick Bourgeois, No. 1 for a seventh year running, is “the gold standard among IT services analysts,” declares one aficionado. Bourgeois, 43, downgraded Accenture from outperform to market perform in July 2011, at $62.01, on valuation. In January, after shares of the Dublin-based management consulting services provider had slid to $51.19, he raised them back to outperform, believing that cyclical concerns were overblown. “Growth for IT services firms is increasingly reliant on market share gains and cross-selling to existing clients,” he explains. In August the company announced plans to acquire NewsPage, a Singapore-based distributor of integrated management software, as part of its strategy to enlarge its global footprint, especially in emerging markets. By the end of that month, the stock had climbed 20.3 percent, to $61.60, and led the sector by 7.3 percentage points. “He was right in downgrading Accenture in the low $60s, when it was fully valued,” cheers one investor.