Lehman Extends Its Winning Streak to a Ninth Straight Year
Lehman Brothers Holdings has filed for bankruptcy protection, yet the firm's fixed-income analysts maintain their winning ways, topping Institutional Investor's All-America Fixed-Income Research Team for the ninth year in a row.
Including 14 team positions in the High Yield category, the last in the five-part rollout of 2008 results, Lehman finishes with 47 total team positions. JPMorgan is second with 36 positions, two more than in 2007.
In High Yield, Lehman's 14 positions include five No. 1 finishes, for Jeffrey Harlib (Technology), David Sharret (Telecommunications Services), Gary Stromberg (Energy) and Reza Vahabzadeh (Consumer Products, Food & Beverages).
Banc of America Securities finishes second in the High-Yield category, with 12 total team positions, followed by Goldman, Sachs & Co., with ten.
To view the complete firm rankings, click on the Leaderboard tab above.
To view the winning teams, click on Leading Analysts.
For information on how this ranking was compiled, see Methodology.
For more information about these rankings, please contact Alyssa Walker at awalker@iiresearchgroup.com or 212-224-3677.
Click here to purchase this ranking, as well as other research team rankings, in Excel format.
Picking the Team
Institutional Investor selected the members of the 17th annual All-America Fixed-Income Research Team by surveying more than 1,330 money managers and buy-side analysts at nearly 490 institutions managing an estimated $11.1 trillion in U.S. fixed-income assets. We received responses from more than 90 percent of the 100 biggest fixed-income investors on the II 300, our ranking of the biggest institutional investors in the U.S.
A numerical score was produced for individual analysts and teams by weighting each vote based on the fund manager’s U.S. fixed-income assets under management and on the rank that the respondent awarded to the individual or firm (first, second, third). Separate weightings were used for High-Yield and Emerging-Markets categories. Those scores were used to determine the respective rankings. Winners also had to meet a minimum vote count.
Two changes were made to this year’s ballot. A new sector was added, Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities, and the name of Asset-Backed Securities/Other was changed to Asset-Backed Securities/Consumer.
Partial teams were fielded for the following categories: Bond Market Indexes, Credit Derivatives, Emerging-Markets Sovereigns & Economics, Emerging-Markets Strategy, Quantitative Portfolio, Real Estate Investment Trusts, High-Yield Transportation and Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities. Five sectors did not field any team members: Currency/Foreign Exchange, Distressed, Emerging-Markets Local Markets, Municipals/Generalist, and Municipals/Health Care. Analysts or teams were designated runners-up when their scores fell within 35 percent of the third-teamer’s score. To meet this magazine’s production schedule, analysts who changed firms after June 13, 2008, are cited at their previous organizations.
In three groups of categories — Emerging Markets, Strategy & Economics and Structured Securities — investors voted for both individual analysts and firms. In these categories we combined individual and team votes to produce a tally for each firm; for each winning squad we recognize an individual designated as team leader by the firm. Analysts who cover sectors in the Investment-Grade, High-Yield and Municipals categories are ranked individually.
II’s ranking of the best U.S. sell-side fixed-income researchers was compiled by Associate Editor WeiQing Lu, aided by Research Assistant Rebecca Feld and with the guidance of Assistant Managing Editors Sathya Rajavelu and Tom Johnson and Senior Editor Jane B. Kenney.