Andrew Kearnan & team
Bank of America Merrill Lynch
Bank of America Merrill Lynch slips to second place. Considered “knowledgeable, broad-based and dynamic,” in the words of one investor, the team of 35 headed by Sydney-based Andrew Kearnan follows 185 companies and plans to increase that total this year. “It’s a stock picker’s market now,” declares Kearnan, explaining his group’s current non-sector-based recommendations of “cyclical names with yield.” In September, for instance, the researchers relaunched coverage of Downer EDI with a buy rating, at A$3.59, partly on the diversity of its end markets. By late April shares of the Sydney-based engineering and infrastructure support provider had bolted 36.8 percent, to A$4.91, and outpaced Australia’s broad market by 17.8 percentage points. The stock remains recommended. — Ben Mattlin