Stephen Chin
UBS
First-place appearances: 1

Total appearances: 5

Analyst debut: 2009

Down one rung to third place is UBS’s Stephen Chin, who also captures a runner-up spot in Semiconductor Capital Equipment. “In a data-point-driven industry, he is an important resource to better understand the constantly changing landscape,” summarizes one backer. Chin is positive overall on this sector, but only as long as “companies can keep lowering costs and bridging the gap with conventional technologies,” he says. When that changes, “this industry will require some form of government incentives to compete in an open marketplace.” In addition, support of technologies from new emerging asset classes will bring “significant liquidity and thus more investor interest” to alternative energy. The solar and light-emitting-diode subsectors stand out, in his view, because “major cost reductions over the past few years have brought these two technologies to the cusp of mass adoption in the second half of this decade.” Chin advises investors to be selective and “invest in vertically integrated companies that have the best shot at being the cost leaders in this space.” Among solar names, he favors SunEdison of St. Peters, Missouri, and Tempe, Arizona–based First Solar. These companies boast significant technological and financial resources, he explains, and can keep lowering the cost of photovoltaic systems. He’s neutral on the LED space, given a likely lull in near-term demand because of dwindling government budgets, but recommends Durham, North Carolina–based Cree because the company is positioned well to “benefit from the secular growth in LED lighting longer term,” he believes. — Carolyn Koo