< The 2015 All-Europe Research Team

Total appearances: 6

Team debut: 2009

Repeating in third place, Mediobanca is “a local brokerage that is quite active in providing coverage on both Italian domestics and pan-European names, including banks in Eastern Europe and Russia,” one U.S.-based client says. “It’s a rare niche — I don’t know anyone else who does that.” Leader Antonio Guglielmi and his 13-strong team in Milan have increased their sector portfolio by 20 stocks over the past year, for a total of 100 Italian companies. Hera, a diversified utility company headquartered in Bologna, is a projected outperformer. Among the pending structural reforms in Italy is the reduction in the number of providers of electricity, gas, and water and waste-water services, reports Guglielmi, 43. Arguably, the contraction should result in efficiency and lower costs. Thanks to Hera’s track record in M&A, ability to create synergies and sturdy balance sheet, he adds, “our view is that Hera is the best way to play this theme.” Mediobanca’s researcher’s assign the stock a price objective of €2.60, which represents a 19.8 percent premium to its trading value at the end of January.