Simon Champion & team
Deutsche Bank
Holding steady in third place for a fourth year is the Deutsche Bank threesome led by London-based Simon Champion. “He knows his companies well and is always quick to respond to client questions,” asserts one U.K.-based money manager. In January 2012 the analysts upgraded InterContinental Hotels Group from hold to buy, at a split-adjusted 1,316.17p, on the strength of rising demand, especially at the U.K.-based hotel operator’s properties in the U.S. In August, after the stock had soared 40.4 percent, to 1,848.21p, and led the sector by 22.6 percentage points, the team moved it back to hold, on the belief that market expectations were too high. The stock had slipped 7.6 percent, to 1,707p, by the end of last year. Champion left the firm in late October.
— Katie Gilbert