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Daniel Ford
Barclays
First-place appearances: 6

Total appearances: 14

Analyst debut: 2000

“Dan knows everyone there is to know,” says one client of Barclays’s Daniel Ford, who rebounds to first place after a year at No. 2. “If you ever need to find out what’s going on in a name, he’s the only call you need to make,” echoes another backer. Projecting that U.S. interest rates will continue to rise, Ford, 46, is shifting from a bullish view of the regulated-­utility space to a more selective stance, embracing stocks with better growth visibility. Accordingly, he directs clients toward outfits that “can take advantage of the buildout in gas infrastructure to support shale.” One such is Richmond, ­Virginia–based Dominion Resources, which has a traditional gas midstream pipeline and distribution business in eastern Ohio and western Pennsylvania. He also favors electric transmission companies like Northeast Utilities of Springfield, Massachusetts. “Logistics are changing, and reliability requirements are rising” in that industry, reasons Ford, who works out of Wells, Maine. Northeast Utilities is developing a project that would deliver hydropower from ­Canada to southern New ­England. The researcher is less positive on power names because “gas prices are low, fuel is abundant, and top-line growth has been anemic.” One exception is Houston- and ­Princeton, New Jersey–based NRG Energy, he says, thanks to its strong position in Texas, whose economy has grown faster than the nation’s as a whole. — Carolyn Koo