Carola Bardelli & team, Deutsche Bank
The buy side says: “They understand our investment criteria.”
Jumping two spots to land on top for the first time is the seven-strong Deutsche Bank squad under Carola Bardelli. Here’s how one portfolio manager explains his fondness for the Milan-based analysts, who follow 58 stocks (roughly 90 percent of Italian market capitalization): “We’re open to new ideas, but there has to be an understanding of what we’re looking for — we don’t like a stock just because it’s cheap. It really adds value when they begin discussions by saying, ‘This is not usually your kind of stock, but here’s why it should be on your list.’” Among the stocks currently on the team’s list is Rome-based gaming concern Lottomatica Group. In November the analysts reiterated their target price of €16.6; as of mid-January the stock was trading at about €12 a share. They argue that state-run lotteries, which produce strong cash flow, have historically been resilient in hard times. (The stock surged 29.1 percent in 2011.) Bardelli, 46, has been with Deutsche Bank since 1995. Previously, she covered various sectors at Banca Commerciale Italiana (now Intesa Sanpaolo) and Analitica. She earned a bachelor’s degree in political science from Milan’s Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore.
