Alexei Gogolev, Ziyad Joosub & team
J.P. Morgan
First-place appearances: 0

Total appearances: 3

Team debut: 2012

Alexei Gogolev, who works out of Moscow, and Johannesburg-based Ziyad Joosub steer their J.P. Morgan crew up one position to No. 3. The analysts cover eight companies in the information technology, media and Internet spaces — seven are Russian, and the last is headquartered in South Africa. “Whilst underlying fundamentals remain attractive in key Russian technology and Internet names,” says Gogolev, “elevated uncertainty on geopolitical and regulatory evolution is set to serve as an overhang in the near term.” Even so, among their favorite names is Luxoft Holding, a software developer and IT solutions provider that was founded in Russia and now is headquartered in the British Virgin Islands. J.P. Morgan’s researchers initiated coverage on Luxoft in July 2013 with an overweight rating on the New York Stock Exchange–listed shares. While acknowledging that a concentrated customer base and wage inflation presented headwinds, they noted that Luxoft was trading at a significant discount to its peers, particularly given its healthy revenue profile and constructive inputs from an improving outlook in developing markets. Sure enough, by the end of May, the stock had rocketed 49.5 percent, to $32.40, outperforming the broad market by 38.7 percentage points.