An irreverent attitude as well as an ability to pick winning stocks made Barry Good popular with many buy-side institutions, according to comments published in the October 1972 issue of Institutional Investor, when the All-America Research Team appeared for the first time. Good, then an analyst with Laird & Co., debuted in second place in Oil, his first of 27 appearances — including 13 first-place finishes — through 1987 (representing Morgan Stanley from 1974). One money manager praised Good’s ability to “poke holes in the pomposity of this group,” and the analyst himself contended that “a sense of humor and a sense of humility are essential — as an oil analyst you need both.”
The 1970s were unquestionably an interesting time to be covering the sector. In October 1973, members of the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries initiated an oil embargo to protest U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East; gas prices skyrocketed and then-President Richard Nixon, deeply embroiled in the Watergate scandal, was limited in his ability to respond. The embargo lasted about five months — in hindsight not a very long time — but its impact can hardly be overstated. The U.S. autos industry was hit hard as American car buyers opted instead for more-fuel-efficient vehicles from Japan, and oil producers frantically sought new sources: Construction of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System began in 1974, in direct response to the Arab embargo.
Good, who dropped out of Yale University in 1952 to join Dean Witter & Co. and moved to Laird in 1965, kept investors informed of the latest developments and, despite the turmoil and uncertainty, found ways to help his clients make money. As he told II in 1974, the best part of his job was “making a recommendation and having it turn out right.”
