Lucas Herrmann & team, Deutsche Bank
The buy side says: “Their data is punctual, in-depth and useful.”
Climbing one rung to finish on top for the first time since 2002 is the five-strong Deutsche Bank team, led this time by Lucas Herrmann. The London-based analysts are “insightful and friendly, with a natural way of explaining key drivers,” according to one client. The first-teamers also earn points for raising their price target on Royal Dutch Shell in November 2010, at 1,887.36p, on new management’s spending discipline and the company’s emerging presence in the rapid-growth area of North American shale gas. (They’ve had a valuation-based buy on the stock since January 2008.) Shares of the Netherlands-based integrated petroleum giant bubbled up 25.6 percent, to 2,371p, through December 2011. “The team is great with their earnings forecasts — top-notch,” cheers one investor. Herrmann, 48, earned a bachelor of science degree in biochemistry from the U.K.’s University of Birmingham and covered the sector for James Capel & Co. and NatWest Securities before moving to Deutsche in 1996.
