SECOND TEAM
Andrew Stott & team BofA Merrill Lynch Global Research
After two years in third place, the BofA Merrill Lynch Global Research trio captained by Andrew Stott rises to No. 2. Dubbed “a great source of quick information when needed” by one portfolio manager, Stott and his associates astutely upgraded Umicore from underperform to buy in July 2009, at €16.87, telling clients that the Belgian industrial-chemicals and metals producer was poised to benefit from growing demand for electronics components and auto batteries. They were right. By the end of last year, the share price had more than doubled, to €38.92 — shooting up 72 percent in 2010 alone. “I couldn’t do my job without them,” insists one benefactor.