Alexandre Spada
Itaú BBA
First-place appearances: 0

Total appearances: 1

Team debut: 2013

Previously unranked Alexandre Spada shoots straight in to second place. “His research is disciplined and very well informed, without getting lost in the details,” notes one impressed investor. The Itaú BBA analyst, who is based in São Paulo, has a mixed outlook. “I don’t think the performance of the sector as a whole will do much better than the overall market in the second half, unless the deterioration we saw in the first half continues,” Spada says. Therefore, stock picking is crucial. He is urging clients to buy Rio de Janeiro–based Cetip, a clearinghouse for over-the-counter derivatives and fixed-income securities, on the belief that the market is overstating the competitive threat from São Paulo–based exchange operator BM&F Bovespa, among other factors. — Leslie Kramer