< The 2014 All-India Research TeamAvadhoot SabnisCIMB SecuritiesFirst-place appearances: 0

Total appearances: 2

Analyst debut: 2013Leaping from the runner-up spot he captured in his debut appearance last year, CIMB Securities’ Avadhoot Sabnis claims second place. He monitors ten Indian oil and gas stocks, winning praise for being “an independent voice in the crowd,” as one buy-side ally puts it. Inverstors single out for praise Sabnis’ coverage of Oil India, an Assam-based energy producer. He upgraded the shares from hold to outperform in October 2013, at 454.40 rupees, citing both natural-gas price hikes and the stock’s high dividend yield. Then in May, after India’s general elections, he downgraded Oil India to reduce, capturing a 31.9 percent gain that bested the sector’s rise by 6.1 percentage points and the domestic broad market’s by 16 percentage points. Political optimism had pushed the stock too high, at Rs599.45, he advised, especially considering the state-run company’s disappointing production levels. In mid-October the shares were changing hands at Rs594.15, trading flat during a period in which the sector fell 7.9 percent and the nation’s wider market climbed 8.6 percent. In general, Sabnis is now bearish on the entire group, deeming it overvalued and believing that there is “no big money to be made,” he says.