< The 2014 All-Europe Research Team
& team Sanford C. Bernstein First-Place Appearances: 4
Total Appearances: 7
Team Debut: 2008 Trevor Stirling and his Sanford C. Bernstein colleagues take top honors for a fourth straight year. The London-based trio follows seven companies, and Stirling, 52, believes the group will face headwinds in the coming year. “Long term the European beverages names are likely to continue to outperform the market due to superior sustainable earnings growth. However,” he warns, “short-term the sector is likely to tread water until there is evidence of a revival in emerging-markets growth.” One stock the analysts do like in the interim, though, is the U.K.’s Diageo. Although the owner of best-selling brands Baileys, Guinness, Smirnoff and Johnnie Walker has not been immune to slowdowns in developing markets, he explains, “we believe that the breadth of its geographic exposure and the strength of its franchises is underestimated and that today represents an attractive entry point to a long-term success story.” Investors say they value this advice. “Trevor is the only analyst writing regular deep-dive reports on big drivers for the alcohol industry, such as long-term outlook for the scotch industry and what is going on with the beer industry in Africa,” cheers one California-based buy-side analyst.
