Amit Daryanani
RBC Capital Markets
First-place appearances: 0

Total appearances: 3

Team debut: 2011

Repeating in second place is Amit Daryanani of RBC Capital Markets, who maintains an “excellent viewpoint on the sector based on solid fundamental research and company access,” as one portfolio manager says. Daryanani dubs the sector a “stock picker’s market” where a company’s performance will be “driven by its end-customer/end-market exposure, along with the company’s ability to translate incremental sales and cost-saving benefits to outsize [earnings-per-share] growth.” The San Francisco–based researcher covers 19 stocks and plans to add two or three soon. As last year, he prefers the connector names — specifically, Amphenol Corp., a Wallingford, Connecticut–based maker of coaxial cables and fiber optic connectors; and Switzerland-headquartered touch screen manufacturer TE Connectivity. A smattering of sensor enterprises also catch his favor, including Netherlands-based Sensata Technologies Holding, which makes sensors and controls for use in automobile subsystems. Regarding Sensata and TE Connectivity, Daryanani notes, “our positive bias is driven by improving automotive market trends, especially in Europe, and cost-saving benefits that could drive material EPS upside for [the second half] and through 2014.” — Pam Baker