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Carlos Constantini
& team
Itaú BBA
First-place appearances: 2

Total appearances: 5

Team debut: 1993

In first place for a second straight year is the 36-member Itaú BBA troupe guided by Carlos Constantini; the 39-year-old, who works out of São Paulo, also helms the team that claims second place in Equity Strategy. “Carlos has been prolific and amazingly accurate,” observes one buy-side enthusiast. “He writes a lot, and he’s proved that he knows his stuff better than other people.” Citing “strong operating and financial performance, and outstanding distribution capabilities,” Constantini says he and his associates are urging clients to buy Brasília-based insurer BB Seguridade Participações, whose initial public offering in April raised 8.5 billion reais ($4.2 billion) — more than any other IPO thus far this year. (BB Seguridade is the insurance arm of state-owned Banco do Brasil.) The shares were trading at 17.72 reais in mid-July; the researchers have a target price of 22.80 reais. Also recommended: Ultrapar Participações, a petrochemicals concern headquartered in São Paulo, owing to “low risk and positive growth prospects,” he says. Target price on the stock, which was selling at 53.70 reais in mid-July, is 66 reais. The researchers excel at “doing macro analysis while going deeply into individual stocks,” marvels another backer. — Paul Sweeney