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Jamminder
(Jimmy) Bhullar
J.P. Morgan
First-place appearances: 4

Total appearances: 8

Analyst debut: 2006

The “almost superhumanly responsive” Jamminder (Jimmy) Bhullar retains the first chair for a fourth consecutive year. The same money manager who so characterizes him also applauds the J.P. Morgan analyst for “knowing the space inside and out.” Bhullar is neutral on life insurers. On the plus side are potential upward revisions in earnings-per-share forecasts, capital flexibility for ongoing share buybacks and more rational pricing, he notes. Counterbalancing factors include expectations that the sector’s return on equity will remain below its cost of equity and that top-line growth will be less than brilliant for most products. What’s more, “overall valuations appear full, and a significant proportion of recent inflows into life stocks has been driven by investors seeking exposure to rising rates, not a positive view on fundamentals,” according to Bhullar, 36. So he counsels selectivity. His top large-cap name is Prudential Financial. The Newark, New Jersey, insurer’s superior ROE and healthy operating trends “will enable it to garner an even greater valuation premium to the life sector,” he explains. “Jimmy is by far the hardest-working analyst I know,” reports another loyalist. — Carolyn Koo