Alexander Hugh, Bosco Ojeda & team
UBS
Alexander Hugh, who works out of London, and Bosco Ojeda, who is based in Madrid, lead the 15-member UBS troupe to a second consecutive appearance in third place. (Hugh also co-leads, with Nicholas Nelson, the team that ranks first in U.K. coverage; Ojeda also leads a runner-up team in Iberia coverage.) The strategists earn accolades from one U.K. fund manager for being “consistently exceptional in their knowledge, research and customer service.” The team believes that an improvement in Europe’s macroeconomic environment will provide a more supportive setting for small-cap stocks, leading them to start outperforming large caps later this year. The crew favors companies with high exposure to the U.S. market — Ashtead Group, an industrial-equipment-rental concern headquartered in the U.K., is one example — because the U.S. should “continue to have a healthier macro backdrop than Europe,” Hugh says.
— Carolyn Koo