Total appearances: 3

Team debut: 2009 Under the guidance of Mexico City–based Gregorio Tomassi, Itaú BBA’s five-strong team leaps from third place to claim the firm’s first top finish on this roster. From their locations in Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Mexico, the analysts cover ten regional technology, media and telecommunications stocks, foreseeing an opportunity for improvement ahead. “In the telecom space, structural pieces that have been and continue to be on the move may start falling into place in the next 18 months and produce material value swings,” says Tomassi, 48. Among their favorite players in this industry are Chile’s Empresa Nacional de Telecomunicaciones, or Entel, which is the former state-run long-distance monopoly that is now among the country’s largest mobile telephone carriers; Telefônica Brasil, a unit of Spain’s Telefónica; and TIM Participações, Telecom Italia Mobile’s Brazilian subsidiary. Tomassi received a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from Venezuela’s Universidad Simón Bolívar and an MBA from that nation’s Instituto de Estudios Superiores de Administración. Before he joined Itaú in 2012, he covered this sector for Santander, leading that firm’s troupe to No. 2 on this list in 2011. He previously oversaw the business development and investor relations operations of Venezuelan integrated telecom company CANTV and worked as an engagement manager at advisory firm McKinsey & Co.