THIRD TEAM Paul Silverstein  Credit Suisse

Paul Silverstein advances from runner-up to third place. The Credit Suisse analyst is “hands down the best analyst in communication equipment on Wall Street,” declares one portfolio manager. Back in January 2010, Silverstein told clients to buy Acme Packet, at $11.19, in anticipation of surging revenues at the Bedford, Massachusetts–based company; Acme was expanding the capabilities of its session border controllers, which establish and protect boundaries for various media streams, including audio and video delivery over the Internet. In February 2011 the company reported that year-over year total revenue had jumped 63.5 percent in 2010, to $231.2 million. The stock had skyrocketed to $47.09 by the end of August, for a whopping 320.8 percent gain that soared past the sector by an astonishing 310.8 percentage points.