Health Care: Pharmaceuticals/Specialty

Gregory Gilbert

First TeamGregory Gilbert

Merrill Lynch

Second Team

David Steinberg Deutsche

Third Team

Richard Silver Lehman

Runners-Up

Corey Davis, Natixis Bleichroeder; Aaron (Ronny) Gal, Sanford C. Bernstein; Marc Goodman, Credit Suisse; Andrew Swanson, Citi

Gregory Gilbert, in first place for the first time, has what one client calls “a good feel for what moves stocks.” Gilbert, 34, who earned a bachelor’s degree with an emphasis on premedical studies from Pennsylvania State University in 1996 and joined Merrill Lynch in 1998, uses his premed education to draw information from physicians and drugmakers for trading-oriented picks like an in-and-out call on Adams Respiratory Therapeutics. Gilbert recommended the Chester, New Jersey–based company’s stock in March, calling it undervalued. In June, with the stock up 20.9 percent, he told investors to take profits. By mid-September shares had fallen 14.7 percent. Newcomer David Steinberg of Deutsche Bank Securities was “early and right” on Shire, says one client. Steinberg, a fan of the U.K. company’s efforts to rebuild its pipeline since 1999, made it the centerpiece of his coverage for the past two years. For the 12 months ended mid-September, the stock was up 43.9 percent. Returning in third, Lehman Brothers’ Richard Silver has “the best sense of the generics cycle,” notes one investor. In June 2006 he highlighted Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, an Israeli off-patent drugmaker. By mid-September 2007 the stock was up 23.6 percent.