< The 2014 All-Europe Research Team

Dirk Becker, Bernd Laux & team
Kepler Cheuvreux
First-place appearances: 0

Total appearances: 9

Team debut: 2002

Bernd Laux and newcomer Dirk Becker lead Kepler Cheuvreux to third place. The reconfigured team of 15 Frankfurt-based researchers is an expansion of the 11-person crew that last year claimed the No. 2 slot for Crédit Agricole Cheuvreux, which merged with Kepler Capital Markets in May. Its sector portfolio has increased as well, from 96 names to 123, and the firm intends to push that number to as high as 140 this year. The squad recommends that clients buy diversified industrials conglomerate Siemens. New CEO Josef Kaeser is enforcing a “tighter management focus,” says Laux, who has directed the group since 2005, and markets have cheered the Munich-based giant’s November announcement of a €4 billion ($5.4 billion) stock buyback scheme. Trading at €99.29 at the end of December, the shares could reach €115, the analysts believe, buoyed by management’s cost cutting, a strong balance sheet that boasts excess cash and an expected strengthening of the recovery in Europe. One buy-side supporter hails Kepler Cheuvreux for playing host to “the best annual seminar on German stocks, health sector particularly.”

See also Bernd Laux's profile in the 2013 All-Europe Research Team.