The buy side says: “Adam is quite knowledgeable, thoughtful and also great with responding to requests.”
Morgan Stanley’s Adam Holt, who rises from second place to capture his first-ever first-team finish, “does a good job of combining fundamental analysis with solid channel work,” declares one buy-side supporter. One example: Observing that Intuit, a Mountain View, California–based developer of accounting and tax-preparation programs, was ahead of its peers in transitioning from an off-the-shelf sales approach to more-profitable online delivery, Holt upgraded the company’s shares from neutral to overweight in May, at $36.09, citing strong growth prospects and improving profitability. The stock had zipped to $42.74 by the end of August, a gain of 18.4 percent that eclipsed the sector by 32.6 percentage points. “Many sell-side analysts myopically focus on calling a company’s next quarter, but Adam balances that with a broader, long-term and strategic perspective on the company’s secular prospects — and in the long run, the latter carries the day,” declares one impressed investor. Holt, 36, earned a bachelor’s degree in religious studies and a certificate in African-American studies at Princeton University in 1995; the analyst, who is based in San Francisco, joined Morgan Stanley in 2008 after working as a credit analyst at Union Bank of California and an e-commerce analyst at Hambrecht & Quist, which was acquired by Chase Manhattan Corp. in 1999. The latter outfit merged with J.P. Morgan the following year.
