Simon Lee & teamMorgan StanleyFirst-place appearances: 3Total appearances: 16
Team debut: 1996
For a third year running,Simon Leeand his Morgan Stanley squad claim the No. 3 position on this lineup. Investors especially value the team’s monitoring of policy changes in mainland China and deem their research product “insightful and timely,” in the words of one money manager. Working from Hong Kong, Lee manages coverage of 40 regional power stocks. He and his colleagues expect to increase their reporting on Chinese equities, including A shares, this year. Their outlook on that country’s utilities names is positive, and while they do like its gas companies and independent power producers in the coal industry, reports Lee, they expect China’s solar and wind power equipment makers to deliver the strongest performance this year. “We see China accelerating its installation of wind and solar capacity, mainly because of an investment-led growth strategy, air pollution and China’s aim to maintain its global leadership in clean energy development,” he explains. “We expect wind and solar equipment makers to enjoy high operating leverage — and prefer wind over solar because of higher product differentiation and higher margins.” Accordingly, the crew’s top picks are China High Speed Transmission Equipment Group Co., GCL-Poly Energy Holdings and Xinjiang Goldwind Science & Technology Co. As he did last year, Lee also joins with Praveen Choudhary in guiding the first-place troupe on the Hong Kong lineup.