Countries: Nordic Countries – First

Fredrik Carlsson & team, SEB Enskilda

The buy side says: “I particularly like their very detailed financial modelings.”

Fredrik Carlsson and his Stockholm-based squad are No. 1 for a second straight year even though the team has been reduced from 65 to 58 members. “Their written work has a nice template that all analysts follow — and it gives me exactly what I need,” cheers one loyalist. “The Nordic market is coming off a rough year,” notes Carlsson, 40. (It plunged nearly 19 percent in 2011.) Investors will start to favor cyclical stocks, but the researchers are advising clients to hang on to defensives. Top picks for this year include two Stockholm-based concerns: appliance manufacturer Electrolux, which will see improved profitability thanks to management efforts to cut costs, and Nordea Bank, which has higher capital reserves than many of its peers but has thus far failed to outperform. “We expect the stock to go up some 50 percent in the next six to 12 months,” Carlsson says.