John Pitzer hurdles to No. 1, after having debuted in third place last year. The Credit Suisse analyst, who covers the sector from San Francisco, “is a unique thinker — he often cites trends first among his peers, and he is also very responsive to calls,” observes one buy-side enthusiast. Pitzer upgraded Maxim Integrated Products from hold to buy in October 2010, at $18.04, citing strong growth prospects for the Sunnyvale, California–based designer and manufacturer of linear and mixed-signal integrated circuits. The stock climbed 27.8 percent, to $23.05, and outstripped the Philadelphia Stock Exchange semiconductor index by 26.4 percentage points, through August. Pitzer, 40, holds a bachelor’s degree in Latin American studies from Harvard University, which he received in 1993, and covered semiconductor capital equipment companies for Prudential Securities, Alex. Brown & Sons and Needham & Co. before joining Credit Suisse in 1999; he began covering this sector in 2007. “I find his competition — while still great at customer service — are stale in their thinking,” says another money manager. “I see John as the real driver of innovation and creative thinking in his space.”
John PitzerCredit Suisse The buy side says: “John dominates the semis landscape in sell-side research.”