Darren Lehrich Deutsche Bank Securities

In third place for a third year running is Darren Lehrich of Deutsche Bank Securities. The analyst has “a real gift for puzzling out the fine distinctions between these companies’ operating models,” according to one buy-side backer. In April, Lehrich picked Psychiatric Solutions of Franklin, Tennessee, as a likely acquisition for Universal Health Services, after learning that executives at the King of Prussia, Pennsylvania–based hospital-management company were taking a “serious look” at the synergies such a deal could create; at the time many on Wall Street believed that Psychiatric Solutions would be taken private instead. The following month, UHS announced that it would acquire the specialty clinical network in a deal that valued the stock at $33.75 a share — 3.4 percent above its closing price the day before the acquisition was announced and 10.8 percent more than on the day Lehrich alerted investors to the opportunity. The deal is expected to close by the end of the year.