SECOND TEAM
Kasthuri Rangan BofA Merrill Lynch Global Research
Kasthuri Rangan advances from runner-up to second place. The BofA Merrill Lynch Global Research analyst, who works out of San Francisco, “puts out an annual ‘Cloud Report’ that is an absolute must-read,” declares one admirer. In August 2010, Rangan told clients to buy Salesforce.com, at $96.63, making the case that the San Francisco–based developer of customer relationship management applications would enjoy strong growth as companies turned to cloud computing to reduce expenditures on software and licensing fees. In February the company reported that year-over-year revenue jumped 26.9 percent in the fiscal year ended January 31, to nearly $1.7 billion. By the end of August, the stock had bolted 33.2 percent, to $128.75, and bested the sector by 18.3 percentage points.