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Marcos Assumpção
Itaú BBA
First-place appearances: 4

Total appearances: 6

Analyst debut: 2008

It’s four straight years on top for Itaú BBA’s Marcos Assumpção, who also outshines his peers in Metals & Mining. The 37-year-old works out of São Paulo and covers three stocks in this sector. In May 2012 he upgraded Klabin from market perform to outperform, at 7.80 reais, thanks to the São Paulo–based recycled-paper supplier’s solid earnings growth and cost controls. The stock soared to 14.53 reais in April before starting to slide, sinking to 10.95 reais in mid-July. Even so, the 40.4 percent life-of-call advance beat the broad market’s loss by 47.2 percentage points. Looking ahead, Assumpção likes São Paulo’s Fibria Celulose, on the belief that the pulp producer and exporter will benefit from rising prices and the depreciating real. The analyst impresses clients with his “management access and other sources, which always bring a value-added perspective,” as one asset manager puts it. — Ben Mattlin