< The 2014 All-America Research Team

Total Appearances: 4

Analyst Debut: 2011Deutsche Bank Securities strategist Yin Luo debuted in first place on this list in 2011 and hasn’t budged, cruising to his fourth straight No. 1 finish this year thanks in part to the completeness of his analyses. “One thing he does really well is integrating the results of research with investment strategies,” insists one advocate. “He’s great at presenting ways to use [exchange-traded funds] or derivatives strategy and cross-assets to actually make money. A lot of quants will tell you, ‘Here are all these factors,’ and leave the rest up to you. Luo shows you how to put investment theory into practice.” Since the spring, Luo has been advising clients to closely monitor discrepancies between concensus estimates and reported earnings and to take advantage of the surprises in a timely manner. As he noted in a report at the time — “Surprise! Limited Attention, Economic Uncertainty and Corporate Governance” — the investment community frequently is not paying heed when earnings are announced. “When their attention gets distracted, they don’t react to earnings news as much,” the 39-year-old strategist explains. This phenomenon is compounded, moreover, when results statements are buried among reports on compelling economic news. Headlines on employment statistics, pronouncements by the Federal Reserve’s Open Market Committee or a blizzard of quarterly and annual corporate earnings releases — particularly on Fridays before long weekends — can obscure an individual company’s performance, he adds. Against this backdrop, says Luo, through this year and next “we recommend buying companies that beat their earnings expectations — or shorting the ones that miss — on those days that other investors don’t pay attention.”