| Scott Mushkin of Jefferies & Co. stands firm for a second consecutive third-place win. “His research is insightful — he looks at both short-term and long-term trends and crafts his stock picks based on his findings,” explains one satisfied client. Case in point: Mushkin published a report in June, “Trouble in Aisle 5,” on the changing demographics of supermarket shoppers. “The baton is being passed from baby boomers to Millennials,” he says, “and Millennials’ shopping patterns are quite different than their parents’.” Most notably, the younger generation has a strong appetite for natural and organic items — 37 percent of them prefer to buy these products when they can, compared with 29 percent of baby boomers, the analyst states. This bodes well for such retailers as United Natural Foods of Providence, Rhode Island, and Austin, Texas–based Whole Foods Market, Mushkin says. He has rated both a buy since early November, and by late August the stocks had surged 64.7 and 41.9 percent, respectively. RUNNER(S)-UP Charles Grom Deborah Weinswig Mark Wiltamuth |
