The Australian Financial Review and StarMine Announce
The Top Analysts in Australia and New Zealand
Independent Rankings Reveal Region's Best Sell-Side Analysts
SYDNEY (December 06, 2006)—Hunter Hillcoat, an equity analyst with Austock Limited, is the top-ranked stock picker in this year's Australian Financial Review/StarMine Analyst Awards. StarMine, the global leader in measuring analyst performance, objectively evaluated more than 300 analysts in Australia and New Zealand on their stock recommendations and earnings estimate accuracy to identify the top performances. StarMine analyzed thousands of earnings estimates and stock calls collected from Thomson Financial between October 1, 2005 and September 30, 2006.
Hillcoat, who covers mining and energy firms, made several astute recommendations to earn the region's premier stock picking award. His most profitable calls were "buys" on Climax Mining and Sino Gold that returned 319% and 115% respectively. Hillcoat has also been named the top stock picker and number two earnings estimator in the metals & mining industry this year.
The most accurate earnings estimator in Australia and New Zealand is Paul Ryan of Goldman Sachs JBWere. Ryan had the most accurate earnings forecasts for the 2006 fiscal year on Qantas Airways, Brambles Industries and Flight Centre.
Topping the list of research houses in Australia and New Zealand this year with a total of 14 analyst awards is Macquarie Research Equities.
Listed below are the top five winners in each of the major award categories. For the complete list of award winners for Australia and New Zealand, check the December 6, 2006 edition of the Australian Financial Review or visit www.StarMine.com.
| The top five stock pickers in Australia and New Zealand for 2006 are: |
| Rank |
Analyst |
Broker |
Industries |
| 1 |
Hillcoat, Hunter |
Austock |
Metals & Mining; Energy & Utilities |
| 2 |
Ashton, Scott |
BBY |
Energy & Utilities |
| 3 |
Carew, Mark |
Macquarie Research Equities |
Financial Services; Energy & Utilities; Real Estate; Others |
| 4 |
Moore, Belinda |
ABN Amro |
Retail & Consumer Staples; Diversified Industrials; Financial Services; Others |
| 5 |
Breen, Geoff |
RBC Capital Markets |
Metals & Mining |
The top five earnings estimators in Australia and New Zealand for 2006 are: |
| Rank |
Analyst |
Broker |
Industries |
| 1 |
Ryan, Paul |
Goldman Sachs JBWere |
Transportation; Retail & Consumer Staples; Others |
| 2 |
Kimber, Phillip |
Goldman Sachs JBWere |
Retail & Consumer Staples; Consumer Goods & Services |
| 3 |
Maxwell-Davis, Hugh |
Morgan Stanley |
Financial Services |
| 4 |
Stranger, Craig |
Austock |
Health Care; Diversified Industrials; Retail & Consumer Staples; Others |
| 5 |
Mabee, Jason |
ABN Amro |
Energy & Utilities |
The top-ranked research houses in Australia and New Zealand for 2006 are: |
| Rank |
Broker |
Number of Awards |
|
| 1 |
Macquarie Research Equities |
14 |
| 2 |
ABN Amro |
10 |
| 3 |
Citigroup |
7 |
| 3 |
Goldman Sachs JBWere |
7 |
| 5 |
Austock |
6 |
| 5 |
Credit Suisse |
6 |
About StarMine
StarMine ( www.StarMine.com) provides independent, objective ratings of securities analysts around the globe by measuring their stock-picking performance and the accuracy of their earnings forecasts.
StarMine helps professional investors extract more value from broker research and fundamental equity data in less time by identifying the analysts that add value, forecasting potential earnings surprises and shortfalls, evaluating earnings quality, and alerting investors to the most important developments on stocks they follow. A privately held company founded in 1998, StarMine is based in San Francisco with offices in New York, London, Paris, Boston, Chicago, Sydney, Hong Kong, and Tokyo.
| Media Contact: |
| |
Mary Morgan
Manager, Media Relations
+1 (415) 874-8168 (Office)
+1 (415) 205-3881 (Mobile)
|
|
