2015 All-America Research Team: Semiconductors, No. 2: John Pitzer

John Pitzer

Credit Suisse

First-place appearances: 1

Total appearances: 6

Analyst debut: 2010

For a second consecutive year,John Pitzerof Credit Suisse captures the No. 2 position on this lineup. “His recommendations are clear and supported by his research — I don’t have to ‘read between the lines’ to know what his recommendation is on a stock,” one money manager observes. The 43-year-old analyst, whose coverage universe includes 31 U.S. semiconductors providers, describes himself as “structurally positive” on the sector. “Post two quarters of negative earnings revisions, due mainly to weaker-than-expected global [gross domestic product] growth, we expect the sector to revert to a position of outperforming the broader market,” he says. “Semiconductors are an essential commodity to the global economy; supply growth is slowing; the number of companies capable of producing semiconductors is decreasing; and demand is becoming less dependent on a price-sensitive consumer and more dependent on nonconsumer end markets like infrastructure, auto and industrial. This should lead to better relative pricing and accelerating revenue growth relative to global GDP.” Finally, Pitzer sees additional upside from big data analytics technologies, predicting that they “should provide the basis for accelerating semiconductor content into nontraditional market segments.”