THIRD TEAM Kevin St. Pierre Sanford C. Bernstein & Co.
Sliding two notches to land on the third team, Sanford C. Bernstein & Co.’s Kevin St. Pierre continues to impress clients with his “long-term orientation and work on fundamental profit drivers,” as one buy-side backer puts it. St. Pierre reiterated his long-standing outperform on Capital One Financial Corp. last October, dubbing the shares a bargain at $38.58 in light of higher-than-expected earnings; two days before the bank had reported that year-over-year net income in the third quarter had catapulted 103.8 percent, to $803 million. Shares of the McLean, Virginia–based full-service institution surged 19.4 percent, to $46.05, and pummeled the sector by 42.3 percentage points, through August.