< The 2016 All-Europe Research Team
Menno Sanderse & team
Morgan Stanley
First-place appearances: 0
Total appearances: 8
Team debut: 2000
Advancing one position to second place, Menno Sanderse and his London-based Morgan Stanley crew provide "the complete package — both company-specific analyses and commodities research are in-depth and insightful," declares one investor. Another constituent extols the virtues of the 42-year-old director of coverage: "Responsive and well connected, Menno extrapolates important trends and anticipates key movements." These researchers track in excess of 20 companies in this space, and they dub Norsk Hydro a likely outperformer. Elevating their rating from underweight to overweight in May, Sanderse and his associated credited the Norway-based aluminum producer’s debt-free balance sheet and high free-cash-flow generation. The stock had tumbled 23.1 percent by mid-January, to 27.33 Norwegian kroner, but Europe’s metals and mining shares overall fared even worse, slumping 56.1 percent. Their target for Hydro is Nkr36. One name on which Morgan Stanley’s team has turned less upbeat during the past year is British-Australian mining behemoth Rio Tinto. Last February they shifted their position on the company from overweight to equal weight, on concerns about iron-ore pricing. By the middle of last month, the stock had fallen 46.5 percent, to 1,643.50p, against the regional sector’s loss of 57.8 percent.