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Ehud Gelblum | Ehud Gelblum JPMorgan SECOND TEAM Jeffrey Kvaal Barclays THIRD TEAM Tal Liani Merrill Lynch RUNNERS-UP Timothy Long BofA |
In first place for a second straight year is Ehud Gelblum, who also captures first place in Data Networking & Wireline Equipment. Clients praise the JPMorgan Securities analyst for his “ability to distill the different drivers in a company’s fundamentals in a down-to-earth manner” and his “clear view on both absolute and relative performance.” Gelblum, 39, upgraded Qualcomm to overweight in November, at $40.82. “I had been very negative on Qualcomm for a long time,” the analyst says, explaining that he reversed his position because “their chip business was going to have a breakout year.” By mid-September shares of the San Diego–based outfit had shot up to $47.92, a gain of 17.4 percent that outpaced the sector by 50.7 percentage points. Jeffrey Kvaal, now with Barclays Capital, following its parent’s acquisition last month of Lehman Brothers, debuts in second place. “He stands out for making succinct calls that clearly state his views,” says one admirer. Last October, believing that L.M. Ericsson Telephone Co.’s problems “were not transient but long-term,” Kvaal downgraded the Stockholm-based telecommunications concern’s American depositary receipts, at a split-adjusted $14.66. By mid-September the ADRs had sunk to $10.76. Unranked last year, Tal Liani of Merrill Lynch finishes third. He is also No. 2 in Data Networking & Wireline Equipment. Liani is “not afraid to address the difficult issues that other analysts may avoid,” says one investor. Liani downgraded Motorola in January 2007, at $19.98, believing that the Schaumburg, Illinois–based mobile phone manufacturer’s disappointing fourth-quarter 2006 earnings were not “a one-time hiccup” but reflected “increased pressure on Razr pricing.” In August 2008, after the share price had plummeted 56.2 percent, to $8.76, he upgraded the stock to buy, on valuation. Motorola rose 17.2 percent over the next two weeks before falling with the rest of the market, and in mid-September was down 7.2 percent since Liani’s upgrade.
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