New York, NY – Last week the Wall Street Journal published it’s 2010 “Best on the Street” survey which rewarded the top 5 analysts whose recommendations posted the strongest returns in 44 sectors throughout 2009. The 18th annual Wall Street Journal survey, conducted in conjunction with FactSet Research Systems, evaluated the recommendations of more than 2,000 analysts at more than 180 firms who met the survey’s eligibility requirements.
Many of the WSJ’s top ranked analysts made bullish calls even while the stock market plunged early in the year to hit a 12 year low in March, 2009. Fortunately, these contrarian recommendations were rewarded as the stock market surged 59% from its March lows to rise close to 19% for the year.
Among the 82 firms who had at least one top-5 ranked analyst, Stifel Nicholas earned the most awards with 11 out of it’s total of 55 eligible analysts. Credit Suisse finished with second with it’s 61 eligible analysts winning 8 awards.
Two of the 215 winners in 2010 were returning members of the WSJ’s “Best on the Street” Hall of Fame. Analysts must appear in the annual rankings in 10 out of the 18 years of the survey, or 7 out of the past 10 years to be inducted into the Wall Street’s Journal’s “Best on the Street” Hall of Fame. The two returning Hall of Fame winners in 2010 were Mike Linenberg who ranked 1st in the airlines sector, and Mitchell Pinheiro who placed 4th in the food and tobacco category. Mr. Linenberg was with Bank of America Merrill Lynch last year, though he will be starting with Deutsche Bank in the next few weeks. Mr. Pinheiro works for Janney Montgomery Scott.
The following is a list of the WSJ’s top ranked analysts in each of the 44 sectors covered by its 2010 “Best on the Street” survey.
|
Sector |
Top Ranked Analyst |
Firm |
| Advertising & Publishing | Barry Lucas | Gabelli & Co. |
| Aerospace & Defense | Robert Spingarn | Credit Suisse |
| Airlines | Mike Linenberg | Bank of America Merrill Lynch |
| Alternative Energy | Lu Yueng | Bank of America Merrill Lynch |
| Autos & Auto Parts | Michael Ward | Soleil Securities |
| Banking | Julianna Balicka | Keefe, Bruyette & Woods |
| Beverages | Jose Yordan | Deutsche Bank Securities |
| Biotechnology | Joseph Schwartz | Leerink Swann & Co. |
| Broadcasting & Entertainment | Erik Kolb | Standard & Poor’s |
| Business & Industrial Services | Eric Boyer | Wells Fargo Securities |
| Chemicals | Saul Ludwig | Keybanc Capital Markets |
| Clothing & Accessories | Scott Krasik | CL King & Associates |
| Computers & Office Equip. | Rob Cihra | Caris & Co. |
| Consumer & Specialty Finance | Sameer Gokhale | Keefe, Bruyette & Woods |
| Electronic & Elect. Equipment | Tsvetan Kintisheff | Kintisheff Research |
| Food & Tobacco | Kenneth Goldman | J.P. Morgan Chase |
| General Industrials | Mark A. Weintraub | Buckingham Research Group |
| Health Care Providers | Sheryl R. Skolnick | CRT Capital Group |
| Heavy Machinery & Materials | Jerry Revich | Goldman Sachs Group |
| Home Const. & Furnishings | John Baugh | Stifel Nicholas |
| Hotels & Casinos | Janet Brashear | Sanford C. Bernstein |
| Household & Pers. Products | Lauren Lieberman | Barclays Capital |
| Industrial Transportation | David Ross | Stifel Nicholas |
| Life Insurance | Edward Spehar | Bank of America Merrill Lynch |
| Insurance, Non-Life | Michael Paisan | Stifel Nicholas |
| Internet & Computer Services | Steven Salberta | Boenning & Scattergood |
| Investment Services | Macrae Sykes | Gabelli & Co. |
| Leisure Goods & Services | C. Ming Zhao | Susquehanna Financial Group |
| Mining & Metals | H. Fraser Phillips | RBC Capital Markets |
| Oil & Gas Producers | Michael Scialla | Thomas Weisel Partners |
| Pharmaceuticals | Andrew Vaino | Roth Capital Partners |
| Medical Equipment | Chris Cooley | FTN Capital Markets |
| Oil Equip., Services & Distr. | Xin Liu | J.P. Morgan Chase |
| Real Estate | Jerry Doctrow | Stifel Nicholas |
| Restaurants | Sharon Zackfia | William Blair & Co. |
| Retailers – Broadline & Appar. | Amy Noblin | Pali Capital |
| Retailers – Food & Drug | Lisa Gill | J.P. Morgan Chase |
| Semiconductors | Richard Shannon | Northland Securities |
| Semiconductor Equip. Manuf. | Mehdi Hosseini | FBR Capital Markets |
| Software | Jamie Friedman | Susquehanna Financial Group |
| Specialty Retailers & Services | Rick Nelson | Stephens Inc. |
| Telecommunications | Luis Fernando Azevedo | Bradesco Corretora |
| Telecommunications Equip. | Erik Suppiger | Signal Hill Capital Group |
| Utilities | Marcus Sequeira | Deutsche Bank Securities |