Frank McGann
& team
Bank of America Merrill Lynch
First-place appearances: 2

Total appearances: 17

Team debut: 1994

After six straight years in the runner-up spot, Frank McGann’s Bank of America Merrill Lynch crew jumps to second place. The Buenos Aires–based team leader “will tell you really what he thinks — and will have no problem in telling you, ‘I don’t have a clue,’ if he doesn’t,” observes one advocate. The researchers follow 14 names and are generally cautious, owing to downward pressure on oil prices and the departure of risk-averse money managers from emerging markets. Plus, “many of the individual stocks have also had fundamental issues that have been of concern to investors, which has led to weak performance,” McGann explains. One exception: Pacific Rubiales Energy Corp. The oil and gas exploration and production company, which is headquartered in Canada, “is working across several fronts to increase output at key fields in Colombia and Peru, and to reduce costs,” he says. “The stock’s valuation is at a substantial discount to its peers’ and does not reflect the upside potential that we see over the next 12 months.” — Leslie Kramer