Benjamin ReitzesBarclaysBarclays’s Benjamin Reitzes, who wins the No. 2 spot for a seventh consecutive year, is “particularly useful when it comes to short-term trends, especially when it comes to determining whether a company is going to make the next quarter or not,” says one client. Reitzes is neutral on the sector “given weakness in PCs, printers and servers,” he says, with one noteworthy exception: Apple. He has been a staunch backer of the Cupertino, California–based computer and mobile-device manufacturer since launching coverage way back in January 2004. At the time, shares of the company — which in August became the most valuable in history, with a market capitalization in excess of $620 billion — were selling for a split-adjusted $11.38 apiece. By the end of August 2012, they were fetching $665.24, having skyrocketed 73.6 percent in the past 12 months alone. Reitzes was “the first to really understand Apple, and that career-defining call alone makes him indispensable now that Apple makes up 4.5 percent of the Standard & Poor’s 500,” observes one buy-side loyalist.