Forbes.com in partnership with StarMine announced the 2005 rankings of  Wall Street’s Best Brokerage Analysts.  The full list of rankings – and more – is available at www.forbes.com/topanalysts.

The top-rated stock picker among all U.S. analysts is Frank Gristina of Avondale Partners in Nashville, Tennessee.  Gristina earned top marks in part due to a “sell” on Overstock.com (down 20% during his “sell” recommendation), as well as by hitting homeruns with NutriSystem, online video service Netflix and online pet pharmacy PetMed Express (which rose during his “buy” 432%, 129% and 86%, respectively).

 According to Forbes Senior Statistics Editor Jody Yen: “In a time when many of the larger brokerage houses have cut back on their research coverage on small-cap stocks, our rankings take on added value.  Avondale Partners, which employs the top-rated stock picker among all analysts, believes that the shortage of research coverage for smaller companies creates market inefficiencies, and thus, investment opportunities.”

Charles Boorady of Citigroup is the top-rated earnings estimator among all U.S. equity analysts, and is also the top-ranked analyst in the healthcare providers & services industry for both his stock recommendations and earnings estimates.

Using StarMine's analysis of tens of thousands of earnings estimates and stock picks collected from Thomson Financial from 3,400 brokerage analysts during 2005, Forbes.com lists “winners” in five categories: the Top 10 stock pickers across all industries; the Top 3 stock pickers in each of 59 industries; the Top 10 most accurate earnings estimators across all industries; the Top 3 most accurate earnings estimators in each of 61 industries; and the 10 brokerage firms with the most top-rated analysts from the various categories. 

“Forbes.com is pleased to again partner with StarMine for this ranking of Wall Street’s elite analysts, providing the senior business decision makers who use our site with an investing edge,” said Forbes.com Editor Paul Maidment.  “We join StarMine in congratulating all of the winners and their respective firms for a job well done.”    

Joe Gatto, founder and CEO of StarMine, said, "Once again, the winning analysts on this year’s ranking generated exceptional excess returns. While bold 'sell' recommendations are unfortunately still too rare on Wall Street, most of the top overall stock pickers this year rightfully earned their position through both profitable buy calls and profitable sell calls. Their high rankings are a testament to their independence and willingness to make tough calls."

Best Brokerage Analysts

Top 5 Stock Pickers of 2005 Overall (United States)

1. Frank Gristina
Avondale Partners
Internet Software & Services, Internet & Catalog Retail

2. Bob McAdoo
Prudential Equity Group
Airlines

3. Richard Prentiss and Mark DeRussy
Raymond James 
Wireless Telecommunication Services,
Diversified Telecommunication Services

4. Kevin Roe
Roe Equity Research
Wireless Telecommunication Services

5. Clayton Moran
Stanford Financial Group
Internet Software & Services, Wireless Telecommunication Services

Top 5 Earnings Estimators Overall 2005 (United States)

1. Charles Boorady
Citigroup
Health Care Providers & Services

2. Steve Binder
Bear Stearns
Aerospace & Defense

3. James Valentine
Morgan Stanley
Road & Rail, Air Freight & Logistics

4. Christine Arnold
Morgan Stanley 
Health Care Providers & Services

5. Chi Chow
Petrie Parkman
Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels