Alan Alanis & team  J.P. Morgan

The buy side says: “Their recommendations are always right on target.”

Repeating at first, J.P. Morgan’s Alan Alanis and his trio keep in investors’ good graces partly because “they think more like industry operators than typical sell-side analysts,” according to one fan. The team also earns high marks for a contrarian upgrade on the American depositary receipts of BRF–Brasil Foods from neutral to overweight in September 2010, at $14.21, on the belief that the São Paulo–based pork and poultry producer’s strong balance sheet could withstand rising grain prices. The analysts stuck to their guns in the spring when the stock plunged amid rumors that antitrust authorities would dismantle the company, and they were right. The ADRs jumped 35.9 percent, to $19.31, and outpaced the sector by 22.4 percentage points, through July. New York–based Alanis, 42, “does a good job of consolidating information from J.P. Morgan’s global team and applying it to his regional research,” declares one ­enthusiast.