Robert Clifford & team, Deutsche Bank
The buy side says: “They don’t get caught up in the hype and noise.”
Soaring to first place after two years in the runner-up slot is Deutsche Bank’s threesome led by Robert Clifford, who turns 40 this month. Clifford holds a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Melbourne, Australia’s Monash University and is “a technical expert with industry experience,” observes one loyalist, referring to the analyst’s nine-year stint as an engineer at British-Australian diversified mining giant Rio Tinto. He left that job for a career as a sell-side analyst with ABN Amro in Australia and moved to Deutsche in London in 2007. He and his colleagues follow 26 stocks, including Randgold Resources, which they upgraded from hold to buy in August, at 5,720p, on higher-than-expected output. By late December shares of the U.K.-based gold miner had jumped 15.1 percent, to 6,585p. The team is cautious on the year ahead, however. “European Union volatility will continue to jaundice investors’ views,” Clifford says.
