THIRD TEAM Satya Kumar Credit Suisse
Satya Kumar advances from runner-up to third place. The Credit Suisse researcher “starts with no preconceived opinions, does terrific modeling and has extensive contacts,” one buy-side fan enthuses. The San Francisco–based Kumar downgraded the solar subsector in November 2010 from overweight to market weight, contending that supply was outstripping demand. “He stuck to his conviction on the call, even when several of his peers — and company managements — were extremely vocal in disputing that claim,” notes one grateful client. Since then the MAC global solar energy stock index trailed the S&P global clean energy index by 10.6 percentage points and lagged the Standard & Poor’s 500 index by 29.5 points, through August.