Industry Sectors: Utilities

Per Lekander & team UBS

second teamSimon Flowers, Eric Lopez & team BofA Merrill Lynch

third teamPeter Atherton & team Citi

Repeating at No. 1, the UBS foursome directed by ­London- and Paris-­based Per ­Lekander, 47, earns high marks for “consistent quality across the team,” in the words of one investor. In January 2009 the analysts upgraded International Power from sell to buy as a bargain at 258.25p. Through December the British electricity supplier’s stock jolted to 309.10p, a 19.7 percent rise that led the sector by 10.8 percentage points. In April, when shares of Spain’s Enagás were trading at €10.35, the team said the natural-­gas importer and wholesaler was oversold, in part because of unjustified fears about the sustainability of its capital expenditures. Right again. Through December the shares billowed to €15.43. In second place for a second straight year is the seven-­strong BofA squad captained by Simon Flowers and new co-­leader Eric Lopez. The team, credited by one client with providing “outstanding bottom-­up analyses and stock selections,” upgraded France’s Veolia Environnement from neutral to buy on a price dip in March, at €15.63, defending the water and waste-­management provider against market assumptions that it was in danger of running out of capital. The stock had gushed 47.9 percent, to €23.12, by December 31. ­Citi’s Peter ­Atherton and his crew of six rise from runner-­up to third. Earnings pressure prompted the team to downgrade Électricité de France to underperform in January 2009; by late December the stock trailed the sector by 18.9 points. The Citi researchers “were among the few [analysts] to point out the underperformers,” explains one buy-side ­backer.

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