“Stock picking was never my forte,” admits William Young. Maybe not, but that didn’t stop him from appearing on the All-America Research Team 31 times — 17 of which were at No. 1 in chemicals sectors — from 1975 to 2006. Throughout his career he represented Morgan Stanley; Dean Witter Reynolds; Drexel Burnham Lambert; Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette Securities Corp.; and Credit Suisse. These days, Young, 68, operates a one-man consulting firm in Stamford, Connecticut, called ChemSpeak. And he does no stock picking. “I spend most of my time educating people on chemicals and how they affect things in other industries that you wouldn’t necessarily suspect,” he explains. “My business is countercyclical to the larger economy”; although equity clients are regulars, “fixed-income investors seek me out when the economy is bad, as they are trying to get a handle on bankruptcies and the availability of distressed properties and such.”
