Industries: Metals & Mining - First

Felipe Hirai & team BofA Merrill Lynch Global Research

The buy side says: “Felipe is always eager to help me do my job.”

On top of the ranking for a second year running is the three-member BofA Merrill Lynch Global Research team managed by Felipe Hirai, who also co-leads the No. 2 crew in Pulp & Paper. In August 2010, arguing that a glut of imported steel was depressing prices, the analysts downgraded Usinas Siderúrgicas de Minas Gerais from buy to neutral, at a split-adjusted 24.37 reais. The stock price zig-zagged over the next six months, but in February, with the shares trading at R24.60, they further reduced the Belo Horizonte, Brazil–based steel producer to underperform, citing rising labor and raw materials costs. The stock shot up to R31.65 in March before starting to slide, falling 13.8 percent since the second downgrade, to R21.20, and trailing the broad market by 6.2 percentage points, through July. São Paulo–based Hirai, 32, “anticipated the margin compression, and the market validated his bearish views,” notes one fan.

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