First Team
Jeffrey deGraaf
ISI
Second Team
John Mendelson, Stanford
Third Team
John Roque, Natixis Bleichroeder
Runners-Up
Ralph Acampora, Knight; Mary Ann Bartels, Merrill Lynch
Jeffrey deGraaf, 39, is No. 1 for a third straight year, but with a different firm this time; deGraaf left Lehman Brothers in March for International Strategy & Investment Group. “He has a suite of indicators that give one a good understanding of the current financial market landscape,” says one money manager. In May, when the S&P 500 index inched past 1,500, deGraaf noted the market’s lack of upside momentum and bullish sentiment and predicted the index would top out at 1,550 in July; it did. By mid-September the S&P 500 stood at 1,484.25. John Mendelson of Stanford Group is No. 2 for a second straight year. “He knows what will appeal intuitively to investors,” says one client. Mendelson went negative on homebuilding stocks in July 2005, as the Standard & Poor’s supercomposite homebuilding group was nearing its peak, and last fall began informing customers that the sector’s imminent collapse would spread to financial services stocks, especially banks, brokerages and mortgage lenders. He recommended investors shift to industrial and energy stocks. Another fan of industrials and energy stocks is John Roque, who advances from runner-up to third. Also negative on the housing and financials sectors, the Natixis Bleichroeder researcher went bullish on basic materials, energy and industrials. Year-to-date through mid-September those sectors reported gains of 15.8, 23.2 and 12.0 percent, respectively. “He is the best technical analyst on the Street,” declares one investor.