< The 2015 All-Europe Research Team
David Tailleur & team
Rabobank
First-Place Appearances: 3
Total Appearances: 9
Team Debut: 1998
Rabobank’s crew piloted by David Tailleur bounds from second place to post the firm’s first top finish since 2012. Headquartered in the centrally located Dutch city of Utrecht, the nine analysts report on 88 area stocks, a reduction of seven over the past year, and win investors’ praise for their long-standing presence as a team and active coverage of the names under their coverage. “They come through our offices regularly, usually escorting one or more Benelux companies, and we like that,” reports one U.S.-based fund manager. “They’re local, so they’re very close to the ground and have great perspective.” Top Rabobank picks for 2015 include Netherlands-based Fugro, an oil-and-gas geoscience services provider whose shares had plummeted because management had issued three successive profit warnings and investors feared the company would breach bank covenants. In early November, however, with the stock down 68.3 percent for the year to date, at €13.24, local offshore exploration concern Royal Boskalis Westminster announced that it had acquired a 14.8 percent stake in Fugro, prompting Tailleur and his teammates to upgrade the shares from hold to buy. Although Boskalis’ executives insist that they have no plans to purchase the entire company and are only interested in its subsea division, the stock has taken off and Rabobank’s analysts see Fugro as a takeover candidate. “We believe that the whole of Furgo is now seriously in play,” for either Boskalis or another potential acquirer, reports Tailleur, 41. He and his colleagues are forecasting that Fugro will be delisted at their target price of €25. In early January, Boskalis upped its holding to 20 percent, sending the stock up to €19.23 by the end of the month.