< The 2015 All-America Research Team

Total appearances: 4

Analyst debut: 2011

In his first top-three appearance, Deutsche Bank Securities’ Jorge Beristain rises from runner-up to No. 3. From a base in Greenwich, Connecticut, he monitors 27 companies, delivering “great insights into managements, detailed analyses and fearless — sometimes controversial — calls,” in the words of one portfolio manager. With U.S. metals and mining shares declining 47.9 percent during the 12 months through mid-September, lagging the S&P 500 by 45.3 percentage points, the researcher acknowledges that “our ‘money makers’ have mainly consisted of loss avoidance.” For instance, at the beginning of July, he changed his rating on small-cap Thompson Creek Metals Co. from hold to sell, citing high leverage in the Littleton, Colorado–based miner’s balance sheet, as well as weak pricing for two of its main products, copper and molybdenum. By early August the stock had slumped 35.3 percent, to $0.55 — behind its peers by 17.1 percentage points — and he deemed it fairly valued. Despite his ongoing concerns about the impact of weak commodities prices on Thompson Creek’s financials, he raised his outlook to hold. The shares were little changed as of the middle of last month, trading at $0.56, while the sector slipped 6.1 percent. Beristain, 46, worked as an analyst at Caspian Securities then ABN Amro before moving in August 2000 to Deutsche, where he served as head of Latin America equity research prior to assuming his current role as director of Americas metals and mining equity coverage. Previously, he was a management consultant focusing on the environmental engineering and pulp and paper sectors in Canada and Mexico. He holds a bachelor of commerce degree from Canada’s University of Alberta.