< The 2014 All-Europe Research Team

Geoffrey Ruddell & team
Morgan Stanley
First-place appearances: 4

Total appearances: 17

Team debut: 1989

After two years at runner-up, Morgan Stanley catapults to second place. Geoffrey Ruddell’s London-based twosome reports on 13 names, and he hopes to expand that coverage this year, “given that the sector is more in vogue with investors than it has been for some years,” Ruddell says. But he recommends that money managers tread carefully. “As 2013 progressed we became gradually more cautious, believing that the investment community has become overly excited about the prospects of a big consumer recovery in Europe,” he advises. Most of the major retailers his group covers still have negative earnings momentum, he notes, many of the stocks are at or close to their all-time highs, and most of the analysts’ price targets are approximately 20 percent below current share values. “Geoff has the best-written research on the Street,” reports one London-based reader. “Even if I disagree with his conclusions, I cannot invest in general retail without reading his research and talking to him first. His arguments are always rigorous, and his analysis relevant.”