Technology: Electronics Manufacturing Services

Jim Suva

First TeamJim Suva

Citi

Second Team

Steven Fox, Merrill Lynch

Third Team

Louis Miscioscia, Cowen

Runners-Up

Scott Craig, BofA; Thomas Dinges, JPMorgan; Kevin Kessel, Bear Stearns

Vaulting from runner-up to first, Citi’s Jim Suva is credited with giving clients a slew of solid picks and a critical eye on the sector. “He originated the view that the electronics manufacturing services industry will not return to historical valuation levels due to excess capacity and competition from Asia,” recalls one impressed investor. Suva, 36, downgraded Jabil Circuit in June 2006, after the St. Petersburg, Florida–based engineering outfit missed its May earnings target; by mid-September 2007 the stock had plunged 33.5 percent. The San Francisco–based Suva, a former equity analyst with Goldman Sachs, joined Citi in 2003 after earning an MBA from the University of Chicago’s Graduate School of Business. Steven Fox of Merrill Lynch climbs from third to second. “His long-term approach allows him to not be as enthralled with the hype,” explains one money manager. In January, Fox downgraded to hold hard-disk-component maker Hutchinson Technology, of Hutchinson, Minnesota, citing excess inventory. In mid-September the stock lagged the information technology sector by 8.2 percentage points. Louis Miscioscia’s reign at the top, where he ranked for five straight years, ended in 2005, when he left Lehman Brothers for Cowen. But he is working his way back up, rising from runner-up last year to third. Clients say he is “uber-accessible” and has “the best contacts in the industry.”