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Diego Celedón
& team
J.P. Morgan
First-place appearances: 4

Total appearances: 8

Team debut: 1993

It’s four straight years at No. 1 for J.P. Morgan. Led since last year by Santiago-based Diego Celedón, who also directs teams that capture runner-up positions for coverage of Argentina and North Andean Countries, the duo tracks 17 stocks, three more than in 2012. In June the analysts upgraded the American depositary receipts of Banco Santander Chile from neutral to overweight, at $23.29 and with a target price of $27, on the belief that the Santiago-based commercial and retail lender’s improved loan-growth momentum would propel earnings and profitability, Celedón says. Also rated overweight since June: Santiago-based Empresa Nacional de Electricidad, or Endesa, Chile’s largest electric utility. The positive view hinges mostly on growing demand for power, but if rainfall normalizes — the central part of the country endured drought-like conditions earlier this year, only to undergo deluges in recent months — then Endesa can rely more heavily on its cost-efficient hydroelectric plants (“the company’s strongest earnings driver,” the 31-year-old observes) and shut down some of its more expensive thermoelectric units, thus boosting profitability. In mid-July the shares were trading at 695.42 Chilean pesos; the analysts have a target price of 941 pesos. Celedón’s “experience and expertise are particularly valuable in smaller markets like Chile,” explains one supporter. — Paul Sweeney