Adam Wood & team, Morgan Stanley

Down one rung to third place is Morgan Stanley’s three-member team, now under the sole leadership of London-based Adam Wood. “We started off last year more focused on growth, but as the macro indicators weakened, we became more focused on protecting the downside and were highlighting which companies have the best business models and how much bad news was already in stock prices,” Wood explains. The group covers 16 stocks and among the names they’ve been recommending are France’s Dassault Systèmes and U.K.-based Aveva Group. “We are currently advising clients to remain defensive in the high-quality software names,” he adds, “but also to get some exposure to the higher-beta services names, with a preference for those close to their trough valuations of 2008 and 2009.” France’s Cap Gemini is one example of the latter. Investors say the Morgan Stanley team produces “highly detailed work” that is “particularly useful in understanding software as a service.”