THIRD TEAM

Andrea Teixeira & team  J.P. Morgan

Down one notch to third place is the J.P. Morgan threesome directed by New York–based Andrea Teixeira, who also guides the No. 3 team in Health Care. Applauded by one money manager as “not afraid of taking a negative view, which is rare,” Teixeira and her associates astutely downgraded Hypermarcas from overweight to neutral in January, at 22.07 reais, partly on the São Paulo–based general merchandiser’s high debt burden. In June, after the shares had fallen 34.7 percent, to R14.50, the analysts slashed them to underweight, on management’s plans to raise cash by selling off its food and household-products divisions. By the end of July, the stock had fallen an additional 17.8 percent, to R11.92, and trailed the sector by 22.7 percentage points.