Michael Bilerman
& team
Citi
First-place appearances: 8

Total appearances: 19

Team debut: 1973

It’s four years in a row at No. 2 for Michael Bilerman and his 11-member crew at Citi. Real estate investment trusts are benefiting from steadily improving fundamentals and cash flow, wide access to attractively priced capital and external opportunities for expansion, the analysts report. However, the “ability of REITs to perform in a rising-interest-rate environment is a key issue on investors’ minds,” Bilerman says. “A higher cost of capital is a headwind for real estate values,” he explains, but if rates are going up because the economy is improving, then follow-on trends — like stronger rent growth, easing lending standards, higher leverage levels and narrower debt spreads — could serve as a countervailing tailwind. The squad favors large-cap REITs, including such blue chips as Boston Properties and Indianapolis-based Simon Property Group, because they have underperformed, the team leader says, yet have “attractive internal growth profiles, external growth potential, strong balance sheets and experienced management teams.” The Citi researchers impress investors with their “relevant and complete coverage of almost the entire REIT index,” in the words of one supporter. — Carolyn Koo