Andrew Wood & team Sanford C. Bernstein
The buy side says: “They provide a fantastic level of client service.”
Repeating in first place is the Sanford C. Bernstein quartet guided by New York–based Andrew Wood; the 46-year-old analyst also captains the top-ranked team in Food Producers. Portfolio managers say they “very much appreciate” the team’s sector comparisons across countries, “especially between the U.S. and Europe.” In a contrarian call the analysts reiterated their buy rating on Germany’s Henkel in January 2010, at €35.66, on the belief that the beauty- and oral-care-products manufacturer would continue to see margin growth thanks to restructuring in the wake of its 2008 acquisition of several National Starch subsidiaries. By the end of December the stock had shot up 30.5 percent, to €46.53, and outperformed the sector by 18.4 percentage points. “Super call on Henkel,” cheers one buy-side backer.