Benjamin Reitzes |
First TeamBenjamin Reitzes UBS Second Team Caroline Sabbagha, Lehman Third Team Matthew Troy, Citi Runner-Up Jay Vleeschhouwer, Merrill Lynch |
“Clear and succinct, with strong opinions” is the way one money manager describes Benjamin Reitzes, 35, who takes top honor for a sixth year in a row. In February the UBS analyst, who is No. 2 in IT Hardware, had a strong opinion on Lexmark International. He downgraded the stock to sell, at $63.95, on the Lexington, Kentucky–based printer manufacturer’s loss of market share to rival Hewlett-Packard Co. of Palo Alto, California, and its agreement, which Reitzes deemed unwise, to produce printers for Dell, the Round Rock, Texas–based computer manufacturer. By mid-September, Lexmark’s stock had plummeted to $36.19, a drop of 43.4 percent against the sector’s 19.9 percent rise. Caroline Sabbagha’s “work on Eastman Kodak Co. has been very useful,” says one client of the Lehman Brothers analyst, in second for a fifth straight year. In February, Sabbagha published a 25-page report on the Rochester, New York–based manufacturer of digital imaging products, concluding that the company’s prospects, although not great, are improving. She defended her hold recommendation against a consensus of sell calls, and since then the stock was up 7.0 percent through mid-September. Citi’s Matthew Troy, who rises from runner-up to third, has “industry knowledge that has led to good calls in a very challenging sector,” says one grateful client. In July 2006, Troy upgraded Electronics for Imaging to buy, on rising demand for the Foster City, California–based manufacturer’s digital controllers. By mid-September 2007 the stock had risen 27.0 percent. |
|
Technology: Imaging Technology