Sell-side equity analysts rarely get an opportunity to quote poetry in their research reports, but Jeffrey Klein of Kidder, Peabody & Co. found an opportunity to do so in 1986, when the longtime winner in Pollution Control cited The Rime of the Ancient Mariner to alert clients to challenges inherent in groundwater decontamination: “Water, water every where, nor any drop to drink.” Klein, who had served on the President’s Council on Environmental Quality before joining the firm, had boasted an impressive network of contacts in Washington and understood that political commitment to environmental issues was meaningless without appropriate follow-through. “It’s important not only to know how the laws are interpreted in the courts, but also to keep track of how much money of appropriations is actually being spent,” he told Institutional Investor in 1977. Klein debuted in first place in 1976 and held the top spot through 1988, slipping to tie for third the following year, his last in the rankings.
