Kulbinder Garcha & team, Credit Suisse

Kulbinder Garcha and his six-member Credit Suisse squad slip from second place to third. Clients says the London-based crew, which takes a global view of the sector and tracks 17 companies, has “one of the best stock mixes,” as well as “superior insight, including into the most obscure niches.” These are tough times for the sector, which fell 32.6 percent in 2011. “We believe the European telecom equipment sector as a whole has been very challenged this past year given its maturity, and we don’t expect to see a turnaround anytime in the immediate future,” says Garcha. “Adding to this is the cyclical nature of growth in the wireless infrastructure space, which significantly hinders opportunities to locate alpha within the market.” Looking beyond Europe, however, the analysts are “most bullish” on two U.S.-based operations, Apple and Qualcomm: “We see both of these companies well positioned to benefit from robust growth trends in the smartphone and tablet markets,” the team leader says.