Kenneth Bruce BofA Merrill Lynch Global Research
BofA Merrill Lynch Global Research’s Kenneth Bruce slips one notch to third place. The San Francisco–based analyst upgraded Discover Financial Services from neutral to buy in February, as a bargain at $13.28. Shares of the Riverwoods Illinois–based credit card issuer shot as high as $16.24 in April, then tumbled to $12.41 in June before climbing back to $14.51 by the end of August, for a gain of 9.3 percent since the analyst’s upgrade. “We have confidence in Ken’s views,” says one loyalist.