Venkatesh Balasubramaniam
Citi
First-place appearances: 0

Total appearances: 3

Analyst debut: 2011

After a year at runner-up, Venkatesh Balasubramaniam of Citi reclaims third place; he also is No. 3 in Capital Goods. CESC is a favorite among the six power companies the analyst tracks, though it hasn’t long been. Last October, Balasubramaniam downgraded the Calcutta-based electricity generation and distribution company from buy to sell, at 324.08 rupees, when its Spen Liq Private subsidiary agreed to purchase a controlling stake in Mumbai-based back-office-services provider Firstsource Solutions for 4 billion rupees ($75 million). He considered the deal an expensive move into a new and unrelated industry. In April, when the stock had fallen 10 percent, Balasubramaniam reversed course and urged investors to buy, encouraged by CESC’s plans to double its generation capacity over the following two years. By the middle of October, the share price had rallied 13.2 percent — climbing to 330.15 rupees and outperforming the sector by 20.8 percentage points — and he expects it to keep rising. “Venkatesh has good, thoughtful ideas,” cheers one fund manager. — Ben Mattlin