THIRD TEAM John Mendelson ISI Group
John Mendelson reclaims the No. 3 spot he last held in 2008; the analyst, who joined ISI Group from Potomac Research Group in May, was a runner-up last year and didn’t rank in 2009. “He has an enormous amount of experience and a very direct approach — he tells it as he sees it without mincing words,” observes one backer. Shortly after arriving at ISI, Mendelson published a report noting that even though the Standard & Poor’s 500 index had just fallen below its 50-day moving average, it was still way above its 200-day average — an indication that the market was overvalued and due for a downturn. (He had noted the same phenomenon in April 2010, shortly before the index tumbled some 16 percent.) Mendelson also pointed out that the number of stocks hitting new share price highs had declined, another sign that a correction was imminent. He was right: The S&P 500 had dropped by 7.7 percent by the end of August.