THIRD TEAM Thomas Lee J.P. Morgan
Thomas Lee, who repeats in third place, “publishes frequently, and he always gives you 15 to 25 interesting names with a dividend yield above the ten-year Treasury,” says one appreciative investor. Adds another: “You can use his work to make money.” In August 2010, after reviewing data on trends in auto sales, capital expenditures, housing and manufacturing inventories, the J.P. Morgan strategist concluded that the U.S. economy was not in danger of a double-dip recession and adjusted his basket of stocks to take advantage of pockets of growth. Lee’s model portfolio included such media companies as CBS Corp. and McGraw-Hill Cos., both headquartered in New York, and Dish Network Corp. of Englewood, Colorado. Those stocks soared 86.8, 54.6 and 39 percent, respectively, through August 2011. During the same period the Standard & Poor’s 500 index climbed 13.7 percent.