Felipe Leal, Diego Moreno & team Bank of America Merrill Lynch First-place appearances: 0

Total appearances: 9

Team debut: 1997 After three years at runner-up, Felipe Leal and Diego Moreno steer their Bank of America Merrill Lynch trio in São Paulo back up to third place. Of the 25 companies in their purview, the analysts currently favor Chilean hydroelectricity providers AES Gener and Enersis, judging both likely to benefit from the high rainfall of the El Niño weather conditions that are expected to start later this year. AES Gener’s shares were trading at 289.40 pesos in late July, and the researchers believe that they could climb as high as 390 pesos. For Enersis their price target is 215 Chilean pesos, which represents a 12.2 percent upside to the stock’s late July value. Government-imposed rationing in Brazil, however, leads the group to maintain its underperform rating on electricity generator AES Tiete. Downgraded from neutral in January, the stock did indeed lag through late July, falling 3.7 percent, to 16.73 reais, while the sector jumped 20.8 percent. “With their broad coverage scope and fearless analysis,” one fund manager insists, “they set the standard for the sector.”