Christopher Senyek ISI Group
The buy side says: “He digs deeper and is more thoughtful than anyone else.”
Christopher Senyek plants the ISI Group flag atop the summit for a third year running. “What I like most is how clear and succinct his work is,” says one investor. “In just a few tight, well-written paragraphs, he can illuminate complicated pension issues and unfunded liabilities, and tell me whether they’re already included in the stock price.” Senyek, 36, also wowed clients with his December analysis of how well companies in the Russell 3000 index were creating value and returning capital to shareholders. While studying earnings he found that companies engaged in stock-buyback programs generally outperformed their peers — 134 of those businesses had repurchased shares equal to at least 10 percent of the companies’ average market capitalization in the preceding seven quarters, and 52 more had bought back at least 15 percent. From August 2009 through early December, these 186 companies outperformed their sectors by 7 percentage points, on average, Senyek found, and reported average gains of 18 percent on an absolute-return basis; during the same period the Russell index rose 20.5 percent. Senyek joined Wolfe Trahan & Co. in September.
