Giovana Araújo & team Itaú BBA First-place appearances: 1
Total appearances: 6
Team debut: 2009 Tumbling from first place to third is the two-person Itaú BBA crew led by Giovana Araújo. The São Paulo–based pair reports on seven Latin American agribusiness names and predicts that higher-than-projected agricultural commodities prices will drive robust earnings momentum for upstream companies. “We expect maintenance of a positive performance for the sugar and ethanol players, on the back of a more favorable outlook for sugar, ethanol and energy prices,” Araújo notes. Accordingly, the researchers have assigned outperform ratings to Brazil’s SLC Agrícola and Luxembourg-based Adecoagro. Agrícola — which produces a range of products, including coffee, corn, cotton, soybeans, sugarcane and wheat — “is set to benefit from soybean and cotton prices, as well as better yields and a positive appreciation of the company’s land portfolio,” he explains. Longtime favorite Adecoagro, whose shares trade on the New York Stock Exchange, operates manufacturing and production facilities in Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay. Its stock rocketed 50.1 percent during the 12 months through late July, reaching $9.95, while Latin America’s emerging markets overall climbed 10.9 percent.