< The 2014 All-Europe Research Team

Simon Larkin & team
Bank of America Merrill Lynch
First-place appearances: 1

Total appearances: 20

Team debut: 1991

Bank of America Merrill Lynch earns a position on this roster for the first time in three years, capturing third place under the leadership of Simon Larkin, who joined the firm from Nomura International in September 2011. Larkin and his London-based trio coordinate with eight colleagues who cover leisure names globally. Of the 20 stocks that the European group covers, the analysts continue to prefer three British names that they have urged clients to buy since January 2012. They like Compass Group, a multinational contract food-service company, because they believe investors have insufficiently appreciated its long structural growth. Similarly, Whitbread is a multinational operator of coffee shops, hotels and restaurants whose space growth story the market has mispriced, they contend. Finally, they see upside potential for TUI Travel thanks to the increased pricing power the international leisure travel group derives from delivering more unique content. Last year, Whitbread’s shares rocketed 56.5 percent, TUI’s bolted 46.2 percent and Compass’s surged 33.5 percent — each well ahead of the sector’s 27.1 percent advance. “Simon and his team are thorough, have a consistent valuation methodology and concentrate on medium-term investment ideas as opposed to trading ideas,” lauds one British portfolio manager. “They have been covering their stocks a long time.”