SECOND TEAM Steven Fleishman  BofA Merrill Lynch Global Research

All-America Research Team Hall of Fame honoree Steven Fleishman, who returned to BofA Merrill Lynch Global Research in September 2009 as head of Americas energy equity research after a two-and-half-year stint as a portfolio manager with New York–based hedge fund Catapult Capital Management, rises one notch to No. 2. Fleishman “knows everyone in the industry, knows the regulatory environments and has one of the best insights about the evolution of the industry,” marvels one supporter. In March, Fleishman highlighted his buy call on CenterPoint Energy, at $15.43, in anticipation of a favorable ruling by the Texas Supreme Court that would allow the Houston-based holding company for electricity-transmission providers to recover nearly $1 billion in charges related to state-mandated restructuring. He was right. CenterPoint’s stock had sizzled to $20.01 by the end of August, for a 29.7 percent gain that outperformed the sector by 24.2 percentage points.