Guglielmo Manetti & team
Intermonte
Milan-based Guglielmo Manetti guides the 19-strong Intermonte squad from runner-up to third place. “They are without a doubt the best analysts locally, and they do a much better job than the bulge-bracket firms,” declares one U.S.-based fund manager. Telecom Italia — “underowned and underloved,” according to Manetti — is a current favorite among the 152 names the researchers track. The shares tumbled 13.9 percent last year, to €0.68, but the analysts believe that the media services provider, which is headquartered in Rome, will attract investor interest thanks to its appealing dividend yield and restructuring initiatives, which include plans to sell assets to pay down debt. The team has an outperform rating on the stock and a target price of €0.90. The Intermonte researchers “have the best grasp of both equity and fixed-income trends and, to my mind, provide the most highly developed, clear-eyed analysis,” declares another satisfied client.
— Paul Sweeney