Britain’s top stock pickers: ‘most accurate’ analysts of 2024 – and the stocks they backed

Investors large and small look to stock analysts when weighing the potential fortunes of any investment.

Buy, Sell, or Hold: A trusted name’s rating can also determine the trajectory of a company’s stock price, for better or for worse.

While a growing number of do-it-yourself investors are embracing their own analysis or crowdsourcing investment ideas from online communities, there’s no doubt that analysts still play a vital role in the stock market ecosystem.

But how often do they get it right? New analysis from TipRanks shows that the analyst you decide to trust can make a huge difference in returns.

The platform, which provides stock research tools to individuals and major banks and brokers, surveyed more than 9,000 of the world’s top stock analysts to reveal the UK’s ‘all stars’ ranking of ‘most accurate’ forecasters.

Uri Gruenbaum co-founded TipRanks, now owned by London tech group Prytek, in 2014 after an “ill-advised” personal investment.

Three years earlier, Gruenbaum had forfeited his first workplace bonus on the advice of a “well-known” technology analyst.

He was convinced to back Indian car giant Tata over high-flying Tesla, which has seen its shares rise an incredible 22,200 percent since the end of 2011. This experience led him to launch TipRanks.

TipRanks’ analysis of stock pickers takes into account the metrics of profitability, accuracy, frequency, success rate and average return.

Gruenbaum said: “Our mission is to equip everyday investors with the highest levels of insights and data when it comes to their stock market journey.

‘That’s why sharing the UK’s ‘all stars’ rankings of analyst talent will only help democratize stock research and investing.”

Who are Britain’s best analysts?

Topping the UK rankings was Sebastian Bray of Berenberg Bank, who accurately named 37 reviews out of a possible 47.

Bray, who achieved an average return of 8.8 percent on his picks, was followed by his colleague Peter Richardson and RBC’s Ben Bathurst.

Bathurst, which called 23 out of 32 assessments accurate, also offered the highest average return of 14.4 percent.

The most profitable individual ranking was taken by Jeffries’ Andrew Wade, whose November 7, 2023 buy rating for Naked Wines shares delivered a massive 127.6 percent return on May 21.

Naked Wines shares was down more than 90 percent from the peak of the pandemic when Wade called, as customer numbers began to dwindle following the easing of lockdown conditions.

A turnaround plan under new management helped the shares rise sharply – although shares remain well below their 2021 peak of 880p, having fallen as sales continue to fall.

Buyer ratings dominate the top call list, with the exception of a homebuilder sales recommendation Barrat Redrow by Gregor Kuglitsch from UBS on September 7, 2023.

The call, inspired by the impact of higher interest rates, delivered a 30.5 percent gain as shares fell.