Leone Young

Leone Young ­Citi SECOND TEAM Scott Levine JPMorgan THIRD TEAM Sponsored Can AI's Benefits Spread Beyond a Handful of Tech Giants? Sponsored by CME Group February 16, 2026 Jonathan Ellis Merrill Lynch

Leone Young of ­Citi retains her crown for an eighth straight year. ­“She’s the one place to go when you need to know anything and everything about garbage,” one enthusiastic buy-­sider says. Young, 47, high­lighted improved margins in ­solid-waste collection companies despite the slowing economy and in January reiterated her long-­standing buy call on Allied Waste Industries, a Phoenix-­based provider of disposal ser­vices, on its robust earnings-­per-share growth. The stock soared 40.4 percent from her reiteration through mid-­September. During the same period the sector gained 24.7 percent. Breadth of coverage, “including many small-cap names,” in the words of one ­investor, helps Scott Levine of ­JPMorgan Securities is No. 2 for a second consecutive year. In January, Levine urged clients to buy Waste Connections, a refuse-­collection company headquartered in Folsom, California, at $29.45, on expectations of improving cash flow. In mid-­September the stock was up 22.8 percent, to $36.17. Repeat third-­teamer Jonathan Ellis of Merrill Lynch is applauded for accentuating niche opportunities, such as Norwell, ­Massachusetts–based Clean Harbors, a leading hazardous­-waste remover. Recommended in November ­largely on high barriers to entry into the specialized space, the stock had skyrocketed from $53.49 to $72.68 by mid-­September, a gain of 35.9 percent.

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