Alonso Aramburú,
César Pérez-Novoa
& team
BTG Pactual
First-place appearances: 1

Total appearances: 11

Team debut: 1993

Rising from third place to second is the BTG Pactual quartet conducted by Alonso Aramburú, who is based in New York, and César Pérez-Novoa, who works out of Santiago; they also direct the squad deemed the best at coverage of North Andean Countries. The team restructured following the firm’s February 2012 acquisition of Celfin Capital and expanded its coverage universe by 17 stocks last year, for a total of 20. “They’ve really built up a research team into one of considerable strength by putting these two Peruvian veterans together,” applauds one ally. The analysts launched coverage of E.CL in June with a buy rating, at 849.08 Chilean pesos and with a target price of 1,145 pesos, because of the Santiago-based electricity distributor’s dominant market position and “efficient thermal generation, with plants running on coal and liquefied natural gas, keeping operational costs under control,” Pérez-Novoa reports. They also recommend Corpbanca, a financial services firm headquartered in Santiago, as a likely beneficiary of “a margin recovery on the back of higher expected inflation” that should boost the entire banking sector, he says. The shares were trading at 5.40 Chilean pesos in mid-July; the researchers have a target price of 7.60 pesos. — Paul Sweeney