James West  Barclays Capital James West of Barclays Capital debuts in third place. Among his best calls of the past year is a November upgrade from equal weight to overweight on Rowan Cos., a Houston-based provider of onshore and offshore drilling services. West believed that a new rig-construction cycle would enable the company to divest itself of its noncore rig-equipment manufacturing business at an attractive price, and he was right: In June, Rowan sold its LeTourneau Technologies unit to mining-equipment manufacturer Joy Global of Milwaukee for $1.1 billion. The stock surged 17.3 percent, from $30.76 to $36.07, and outpaced the sector by 12.1 percentage points, through August. West commands “keen analytics and strong big-picture insight,” according to one buy-side supporter.