Mark Bryan, Billy Ng & teamBank of America Merrill LynchFirst-place appearances: 3Total appearances: 5
Team debut: 2011
This year’s No. 1 finish marks the third in the row for Bank of America Merrill Lynch, whose squad is co-piloted by Sydney-basedMark BryanandBilly Ngin Hong Kong. The leaders, both 40, oversee six analysts covering more than 30 regional gaming and lodging stocks from their posts in Australia, Hong Kong and South Korea. As he did last year, Bryan also co-leads, with Ming Hsun Lee, a group that merits a runner-up spot on the Small- & Midcapitalization Stocks lineup. This group “is generally driven more by medium- and longer-term trends, which suits our investment style, and is less driven by short-term or quarterly noise, which is what more and more sell-side research focuses on these days,” one adherent observes. The researchers see a mixed bag for the names in their sector. Although they maintain that the long-term outlook for the gaming space is good, they caution that 2015 will present challenges, especially for operators in Macau, where demand is being dampened by China’s anticorruption campaign and economic slowdown. Still, the analysts advise, good stocks can be found. One they point to is China International Travel Service Corp., a tourism company that they expect to benefit from the exposure its duty-free shops offer in China.