Ben Laidler & team J.P. Morgan
The buy side says: “Ben has a thorough understanding of Latin America’s markets.”
Repeating in first place is the J.P. Morgan quintet captained by New York–based Ben Laidler, who also leads the No. 3 team in Mexico. Laidler, 39, “provides food for thought with plenty of supporting data, which is far more important,” says one buy-side enthusiast. The strategists told clients in November that they were generally bullish on Latin America for 2011 because “macro fundamentals are robust, credit conditions are very supportive, and valuations are not stretched,” among other factors. The 160-page report, “LatAm Year Ahead 2011: Stay Invested,” included a breakdown of the team’s model portfolio, in which the consumer/discretionary, energy, financials and telecommunications sectors were overweighted relative to the MSCI emerging-markets Latin America index, while basic materials, consumer staples and utilities were underweighted. At the time of the report, the model portfolio was up 22 percent year-to-date, 10 percentage points ahead of the index. By the end of July, the model portfolio had advanced 3.5 percent further, roughly in line with the index over the same period, Laidler reports.