The 2014 All-America Research Team: Pharmaceuticals/Major, No. 1: Mark Schoenebaum

<The 2014 All-America Research Team Mark SchoenebaumISI GroupFirst-Place Appearances: 2

Total Appearances: 3

Analyst Debut: 2012

Mark Schoenebaum“is an extraordinary analyst with a contagious passion for science,” cheers one advocate. “He and his team do relentless digging into issues, both big and small, and his humor and humility are the best, bar none.” Little wonder, then, that the 41-year-old ISI Group analyst earns a repeat first-place finish on this lineup while notching his tenth straightNo. 1 appearance in Biotechnology. On this group, Schoenebaum is fairly positive, foreseeing a gain of 5 percent in the second half of this year. Shares of U.S. major pharmaceuticals names rose 9.6 percent over the first two quarters of 2014, leading the broad market by 3.5 percentage points, and by mid-September had advanced 5 percent further, while the nation’s share’s overall inched up 1.2 percent. The All-America Research Team Hall of Famer is sticking with Merck & Co. of Whitehouse Station, New Jersey. He has urged clients to buy the industry giant since launching coverage in January 2012. “I think the drug pipeline and company management are underappreciated by the Street,” he says. Specifically, he believes that Merck is perceived as trailing New York’s Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. in developing certain cancer-related immune system therapies, “and I’m not so sure that’s true,” Shoenebaum adds. Regarding drugs in development, the company’s anticipated launch later this year of a new insomnia treatment, suvorexant, could surprise the market, he says, and “Merck also has interesting drugs in hepatitis C and cholesterol management that could propel the stock over the next year.” The shares rose 28.6 percent over the 12 months through mid-September, to $59.52, and he forecasts a rise to the low $60s. “If there were more analysts like Mark,” says another booster, “the stock market would be more efficient, and work would be more fun.”