Technology: Internet

Jumping from third place, Mark Mahaney of ­Citi claims the top spot for the first time. The 42-year-old analyst “makes calls — he ­doesn’t just ride out his ratings,” observes one portfolio man­ager. One call Mahaney made that impressed investors was a ­downgrade of travel ser­vices provider Priceline.com in May, at $128.23, because he thought the rising cost of air travel would spur a slowdown in consumer demand. He was right. By mid-­September the Norwalk, ­Connecticut–based com­pany’s share price had plunged to $86.24, a loss of 32.7 percent. During the same period the sector fell 27.6 percent. Mahaney earned an MBA from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School in 1996 and worked at Morgan Stanley and Galleon Group, a New York–based hedge fund, before joining ­Citi in 2005. “Detailed and insightful analysis,” in the words of one buy-side enthusiast, help Imran Khan hold second place for a fourth consecutive year. The ­JPMorgan Securities analyst reiterated his overweight rating on Dice Holdings in February, telling investors that rising unemployment would boost traffic at the New York–based com­pany’s job recruitment Web site. In mid-­September the stock was ahead of the sector by 11.6 percentage points. Newcomer Jeffrey Lindsay of Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. is No. 3. Lindsay is “not afraid to go against the consensus,” according to one investor. He proved it when he issued a buy recommendation in May on Amazon.com, at $74.53, reasoning that the market was taking an unnecessarily negative view of the Seattle-­based online retailer’s long-term growth prospects. By mid-­September, Amazon’s shares had gained 5.1 percent, to $78.30.

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