Country Sectors: Nordic Countries

ABG Sundal Collier rules the roost for the first time since 2004.

Malene Brøndberg & team ABG Sundal Collier

second team Roland Jonsson & team SEB Enskilda

third team (tie) Björn Jansson & team Carnegie; Peter Karlsson & team Handelsbanken

ABG Sundal Collier rules the roost for the first time since 2004. Newcomer Malene Brøndberg, 36, who is based in London and oversees a team of 38 analysts, is a 1997 graduate of Denmark’s Aalborg Universitet with a bachelor’s degree in economics. She joined ABG in 2004 from Nordea Securities, where she worked as an analyst covering medical technologies and services. In September the team, which held the third-place position in 2008, the last time this sector was published, reinstated coverage of Oslo-based global aluminum giant Norsk Hydro with a buy recommendation, at 36.14 Norwegian kroner, on the belief that depressed aluminum prices would soon rebound. By year-end the stock had risen to Nkr48.71, a 34.8 percent gain that beat Norway’s broad-market advance by 13.9 percentage points. “ABG has more-experienced analysts who are very responsive and good communicators,” avers one buy-sider.

In second place for the third time in four years is SEB Enskilda’s 50-strong Stockholm-based squad, led by newcomer Roland Jonsson following last summer’s departure of Björn Jansson for Carnegie Investment Bank. Top calls of the past year include an April upgrade to buy on Acergy, a U.K.-based offshore engineering concern, on valuation. The stock gushed 118.5 percent, from Nkr41.95 to Nkr91.65, through December.

Sharing third-place honors are Jansson’s Carnegie IB crew and the Handelsbanken Capital Markets team helmed by Peter Karlsson. Carnegie’s 55-analyst squad, headquartered in Stockholm, upgraded Sweden’s Electrolux to outperform in March, on valuation; the appliance-maker’s stock bested Norway’s broad market by an eye-popping 133.6 points, through December. Handelsbanken’s Stockholm-based squad of 38 told investors in March to buy Autoliv, on the Swedish auto-safety-equipment manufacturer’s growing market share. By December 31 the stock had catapulted 135.1 percent.

Sponsored

To go back to the index page, click on the Best European Analysts of the Year: 2010 All-Europe Research Team .

To read the article, click on: Reversal of Fortunes: The 2010 All-Europe Research Team

Click here to access the complete rankings of the 2010 All-Europe Research Team

Related