George Buzhenitsa Deutsche Bank First-place appearances: 0
Total appearances: 3
Team debut: 2012 Deutsche Bank’s George Buzhenitsa leaps from runner-up to seize the No. 2 position on this lineup, marking his best showing to date thanks in part to his “independent and value-added opinions,” as one portfolio manager puts it. Buzhenitsa actively tracks 13 Russian metals and mining names and five companies in Real Estate, where he also wins second place this year. In July he downgraded Moscow-based Mechel, a vertically integrated coal and steel producer, from hold to sell. Management’s attempts to salvage the company by selling noncore assets were “insufficient,” he advised, and the stock has suffered accordingly. Through May, Mechel’s New York Stock Exchange–listed shares plummeted 35 percent, to $1.93. Over the same period the sector soared 39.8 percent. The analyst recommends that investors instead prefer TMK, thanks primarily to high demand for the Moscow-based industrial-pipe maker’s oil and gas lines in Russia and shale-drilling apparatus in the U.S., its core markets. He reiterated his buy rating in April, when the global depositary receipts were trading at $8.75, undeterred by a recent sell-off, which he attributed to Ukraine-related jitters. TMK’s GDRs closed May at $9.35. “George’s views are often differentiated,” notes another backer.