Michael Goldstein  Empirical Research Partners

The buy side says: “He’s the guru in the business.”

Michael Goldstein returns to No. 1 after spending the past three years in second place; he also is No. 2 in ­Quantitative Research. In November the Empirical Research Partners strategist, 56, told clients that global dynamics — particularly the influence that China and other emerging markets were exerting on wages and input costs — were driving a rebound in cyclical capital goods and technology in the U.S. that would be “powerful by the standards of history.” Among the companies he thought stood to gain were information technology services provider IBM Corp. of Armonk, New York, and ­Peoria, Illinois–based equipment manufacturer ­Caterpillar. At the end of August, the stocks were up 21.6 and 15.6 percent, respectively. During the same period the broad market gained just 2.1 percent.