SECOND TEAM Gary Taylor Citi
It’s five straight years in second place for Gary Taylor. The Citi analyst “covers all the bases,” says one impressed investor, pointing to Taylor’s coverage of Skilled Healthcare Group. Shares of the Foothill Ranch, California–based operator of assisted-living facilities plummeted in July 2010 after a jury in Humboldt County, California, found in favor of plaintiffs who had accused the company of failing to meet state minimum requirements for nurse-patient staffing ratios; the jury awarded the plaintiffs $671 million. Skilled Healthcare agreed to mediate rather than file an appeal, and two months after the verdict, the case was settled for $50 million, subject to the approval of the Humboldt County Superior Court. In early November, when it appeared likely that the high court would approve the settlement — which it did, at the end of that month — Taylor upgraded Skilled Healthcare from hold to buy, at $3.93, on the belief that the stock would rebound. Indeed, it did. In April, after the shares had catapulted a jaw-dropping 283 percent, to $15.05, and pummeled the sector by 263.1 percentage points, Taylor urged clients to take profits. By the end of August, Skilled Healthcare’s share price had plunged 63.9 percent, to $5.43.