Pickers Who Can Pick

Fortune

Fortune

The media has been gang-tacklingstock analysts lately—deservedly so, itappears. The portfolio of the median WallStreet analyst based on buy, sell, and holdrecommendations was up 11% last year,and that's before commissions are backedout. In contrast, the S&P 500 gained 28%and the Nasdaq gained 50% in 2003. Butthere are some stock pickers out therewho outperform their peers year afteryear. In a recent issue, compiled alist of 10 stock researchers who have runahead of the pack over the long haul andasked them to pick a stock for the upcoming12-month period. If the resulting portfoliodoes as well as last year's picks from's all-star analysts, physician-investorswho follow their suggestionsshould be happy. Last year's picks cruisedto an average return of 32%.

The following are the picks for theupcoming year: Andrew McQuilling ofUBS chose Weight Watchers (WTW);Chris Blum of Edward Jones, Bank ofAmerica (BAC); Tom Carroll of LeggMason, Anthem (ATH); Stephen Gerskyof Morgan Stanley, Lear Corp (LEA);Michael Dudas of Bear Stearns, NewmontMining (NEM); Joseph Campbellof Lehman Brothers, EADS (EAD FP);Colin Devine of Smith Barney, PrudentialFinancial (PRU); Jason Kantor ofW. R. Hambrecht, Seattle Genetics(SGEN); Richard Chu of S. G. Cowen,Sun Microsystems (SUNW); and PaulPuryear of Raymond James, TollBrothers (TOL).