< The 2014 All-America Research TeamAdam ParkerMorgan StanleyFirst-place appearances: 0

Total appearances: 5

Team debut: 2009Morgan Stanley’s Adam Parker reclaims the No. 3 position he earned in 2012, having slipped to runner-up last year. “His breadth of coverage is pretty impressive,” asserts one supporter. “He’s doing great thematic research on topics like housing, and small-cap versus large-cap stocks.” Through the end of this year, Parker reports, he remains bullish overall. Earnings per share gains are likely to be “mediocre,” he adds, yet the “probability of the bear case” he deems fairly remote. Although the strategist anticipates that real gross domestic product growth will accelerate, he expects expansion to fall short of consensus “both on GDP for the U.S. economy and EPS for corporates.” Moreover, he foresees stock prices reaching a premium at “industries that can deliver growth.” Against this backdrop, Parker recommends that over the near term investors prefer small caps, because they enjoy “faster EPS growth, more margin expansion and an accelerating M&A environment.” He is also bullish on chemicals and health care names, while advising underweighting consumer staples and financials, “where we see expensive stocks that are missing estimates,” he adds.