Alejandro Demichelis, Fiona Maclean & team, BofA Merrill Lynch Global Research
Advancing from runner-up to third place is the BofA Merrill Lynch Global Research squad of six co-headed by Alejandro Demichelis (who also jointly leads, with Hootan Yazhari, the No. 2 team in Oil & Gas Exploration & Production) and Fiona Maclean. Praised for their “sound view of industry dynamics,” in the words of one investor, the London-based researchers are singled out for an August upgrade of Petrofac from neutral to buy, at 1,124.03p, on its backlog of projects and earnings visibility. Shares of the Channel Islands–headquartered oil field engineer gushed 28.2 percent to 1,441p, through December.