Lilyanna Yang & team UBS
Lilyanna Yang led the J.P. Morgan team to a first-place finish last year. She moved to UBS in October and this year guides the Swiss bank’s two-member team to No. 2. (UBS Pactual, under the direction of Gustavo Gattass, was a runner-up last year; Gattass moved to BTG Pactual when its parent company acquired UBS’s Brazilian operations last fall.)
Supporters describe Yang as an “extremely technically proficient” researcher with “great timing on stock calls.” One example: The New York–based team raised CPFL Energia to top pick in November, at R32.41, calling the Brazilian electricity distributor a “safe harbor for defensive growth via a liquid stock.”
In March, after it had advanced 18.7 percent, to R38.48, the pair downgraded the stock to neutral, on valuation. The downgrade was a bit premature, however; the stock advanced a further 5.5 percent, to R40.60, through July.
