Loredana Serra
& team
Morgan Stanley
First-place appearances: 5

Total appearances: 19

Team debut: 1995

In its early years the Latin America Research Team ranked individuals, not teams, and the sector classifications were different than they are today. Throughout the changes of the past 21 years, Loredana Serra has remained a fixture, appearing nearly every year, either as a solo analyst or crew captain, and often in multiple sectors in the same year. The New York–based analyst does just that again this year, guiding the Morgan Stanley trio to a third straight third-place finish and also directing the group that captures second place in Retailing. “She has an incredibly deep understanding of the consumer space,” affirms one money manager. The researchers cover 20 companies, three more than last year. “Stocks have now corrected, providing some possible entry points, but valuations have been full and earnings momentum has become somewhat uneven for many of the companies,” Serra notes. “So we are still selective.” Case in point: The analysts upgraded Mexico-based beverage distributor Fomento Económico Mexicano, or Femsa, from equal weight to overweight in August 2012, at $84.70 per American depositary receipt, because “the company was getting closer to expanding its business into related retail concepts within small-box retail in Mexico,” she explains. In January, after Femsa’s stock had bubbled up 29.4 percent, to $109.59, and outpaced the sector by 5.9 percentage points, they moved it back to equal weight, primarily on valuation. By mid-July the shares had slid 6.7 percent, to $102.21. — Pam Baker