Lucas Herrmann & team
Deutsche Bank
Lucas Herrmann and his Deutsche Bank quartet slip one notch to second place. The London-based team lost one member owing to budget constraints, but the analysts continue to report on 25 stocks. In December 2011 they downgraded Norway’s Statoil from buy to hold, dubbing the shares overvalued at 144.98 Norwegian kroner. By year-end 2012 the stock had slid 4.1 percent, to Nkr139. The crew is cautious on the sector going forward, seeing limited demand growth putting pressure on prices. Even so, the researchers are bullish on such select names as Scotland’s Cairn Energy. They launched coverage in May with a valuation-based buy, at 301.30p, following the company’s recent acquisitions in the North Sea. By late December, however, the shares had slid 12.1 percent, to 264.80p. “Their recent picks have been okay but not great,” sums up one U.K.-based asset manager. — Ben Mattlin