The 2014 All-Europe Research Team: Equity Strategy, No. 3: John Bilton & team

Unranked last year, Bank of America Merrill Lynch bolts to No. 3 — notching its best showing in 15 years. The six-member, London-based crew is led by newcomer约翰·比尔顿, who also co-heads (with Nicholas Bate) the No. 2 team in U.K. coverage. “John is one of the Street’s original thinkers, always coming up with new angles and viewpoints,” cheers one admirer, who adds that Bilton’s squad provides “some of the most consistently high-quality, to-the-point research I read.” This year will be a tale of two halves, the strategists believe. First, markets will undergo “a fairly lengthy period of consolidation,” Bilton says, potentially slipping as investors monitor whether the European Central Bank’s attempts to forestall disinflation are successful. Believing they will be, the researchers project a second-half “pickup in corporate confidence, modest pickup in terms of credit activity and modest weakening of the euro, all of which can help drive around 12 percent earnings growth” in 2015, he adds. “That means European equity markets will perform in line with their cost of capital and dividend.” Accordingly, his team is recommending such defensive sectors aerospace, energy and pharmaceuticals; and it’s overweighting banks and food retailers.