SECOND TEAM 

Marcos Severine & team  Itaú BBA

Vaulting from runner-up to the second team is the Itaú BBA trio directed by São Paulo–based Marcos Severine. Boosters highlight the squad’s March 2010 reiteration of an outperform on Brazil’s MPX Energia, at 23.80 reais, on the premise that the Rio de Janeiro–based operator of coal-fired power plants was significantly undervalued. That may have been premature, as the shares seesawed for a few months, but it ultimately proved right. By late July 2011 the stock had catapulted 56.7 percent, to R37.29, and beat the sector by 54.4 percentage points. “Marcos brings a fresh perspective that makes you question your assumptions,” praises one admirer.