SECOND TEAM

Eamonn Hughes & team Goodbody Stockbrokers

Eamonn Hughes and his Goodbody Stockbrokers team of 13 repeat in second place. Winning stock picks have included two Dublin-based airlines with very different business models — discount carrier Ryanair Holdings and legacy outfit Aer Lingus Group. The analysts’ bullish call on Ryanair dates to December 2009, when the team concluded that “rising yields” would be “a factor in increased returns,” according to Hughes, who works out of Dublin. By late December 2010 the stock had soared 53.3 percent, from €244.55 to €375, and blew past the sector by 66.9 percentage points. The researchers began to push Aer Lingus in June, at €0.77, making the case that “cost take-outs and rising yields were the key drivers” to profitability, says Hughes. The stock had flown to €1.10 by year-end, for a gain of 42.9 percent that shot past Ireland’s broad market by 55.2 points. “No one else even comes close to them in terms of the depth with which they follow their home market,” cheers one grateful client.