John PitzerCredit SuisseJohn Pitzer drops one notch to second place but continues to perform “some of the best and largest macro and secular work on the Street,” according to one backer. The Credit Suisse analyst named NXP Semiconductors his top pick for the year in January, at $16.90, making the case that the stock had become way too cheap in light of growing demand for the Dutch manufacturer’s near-field communications chips, which are becoming standard equipment in Android-based smartphones and similar devices. The stock soared 38 percent, 32.4 percentage points ahead of the Philadelphia Stock Exchange semiconductor index, to end August at $23.32. “We currently have an overweight on the semiconductors sector as cyclical dynamics — trough in year-over-year unit growth, low inventory, high levels of undershipping, benign capital spending, reasonable investor expectations and Street consensus estimates — are all supportive of a recovery over the next six to nine months,” says Pitzer, who works out of San Francisco. “Beyond a 12-month horizon fundamentals are perhaps a bit more mixed.”