Alexandra Hauber & team, J.P. Morgan Cazenove
The buy side says: “She always prompts good critical thinking.”
Repeating in first place is the J.P. Morgan Cazenove quintet led by Alexandra Hauber; this team also ranks third in Biotechnology. The London-based analysts added coverage of two companies last year, for a total of 20 stocks evenly split between the two sectors. “Alexandra’s research is always thought-provoking — and I don’t always agree with it — but she is never afraid to take a view and stand by it,” explains one ally. “She is also hands down the best provider of company access.” The analysts didn’t highlight any pharmaceuticals companies in particular last year, because “the sector has been cheap for a while — in deep value territory — and all of the stocks are trading well below fundamental value,” Hauber explains. “So rather than bet on specific stocks, we would buy all of them because the sector was undervalued.” Hauber notes that pharmaceuticals performed reasonably well last year — the shares climbed 9.4 percent while the broad market slumped 12.2 percent — and she attributes that relative success to the negative economic situation in Europe stemming from the sovereign-debt crises, which drove investors to the sector because of its defensive nature.
