Wells Fargo Beefs Up Its Equity Research Team with Five New Senior Analysts

Wells Fargo Securities, the New York-based investment banking subsidiary of a financial services firm best known for its nationwide string of 9,000 retail branches, seems bent on making a name for itself in capital markets. Today, Wells Fargo Securities announced it was increasing the size of its Equity Research Team with the hiring of five senior analysts covering IT Hardware, Education, Healthcare IT, Food and Oil and Gas Refining.

The Wells Fargo Securities’ Equity Research team has received many accolades over the past year. Most recently, it ranked number two in large cap stock picking in 2011 and 2010 (StarMine/Financial Times). The research team also earned a number 5 weighted ranking in Institutional Investor’s annual All-America Fixed-Income Research survey in 2011.

Wells Fargo Securities handles such capital markets products as originating and distributing public debt and equity, hedging interest rates, commodity and equity risks, advising on mergers and acquisitions and originating structured lending facilities and municipal bonds. The institutional capital markets business is comprised of more than 3,500 employees in more than 40 offices across the U.S., Europe and Asia.

The parent company, Wells Fargo, is headquartered in San Francisco and has $1.3 trillion in client assets with more than 270,000 employees.

Joining the Wells Fargo Securities’ Equity Research team and reporting to Sam Pearlstein and Todd Wickwire, co-heads of Equity Research, are:

1. Maynard Um, managing director and senior analyst

Based in New York, Um joins Wells Fargo Securities as a managing director and senior analyst in the Equity Research department covering the IT Hardware sector. Um joins the bank after spending more than 15 years at UBS Investment Bank and its predecessor firms, where most recently he was the firm’s senior IT Hardware equity analyst.

2. Trace Urdan, managing director and senior analyst

Based in San Francisco, Urdan joins Wells Fargo Securities as a managing director and senior analyst in the Equity Research department covering the Education sector. Most recently with Wunderlich Securities, Urdan, a two-time Wall Street Journal All-Star, covered the for-profit education industry as a research analyst since 1998 and is considered one of the leading voices in the sector.

3. Jamie Stockton, director and senior analyst

Based in Memphis, Stockton joins Wells Fargo Securities as a director and senior analyst in the Equity Research department covering the Healthcare IT & Distribution sector. Stockton joins from Morgan Keegan where he followed the Healthcare IT sector for the past four years. During his tenure covering Healthcare IT stocks, Stockton was ranked by Starmine/Financial Times as the number two stock picker in 2011, the number one stock picker in 2010 and the number three earnings estimator in 2010.

4. John Baumgartner, vice president and senior analyst

Based in New York, Baumgartner joins Wells Fargo Securities as a vice president and senior analyst in the Equity Research department covering the Food sector. Baumgartner has over eight years of sell-side experience in the space and has differentiated his research product through a particular focus on commodity price forecasting and analysis. Baumgartner joins from Telsey Advisory Group where as a senior analyst he launched coverage of the Packaged Goods and sector and agricultural commodities.

5. Roger Read, managing director and senior analyst

Based in Houston, Read joins Wells Fargo Securities as a managing director and senior analyst in the Equity Research department covering the Oil & Gas Refining sector. Read joins from Morgan Keegan where he followed the Diversified Energy Services sector. Prior to joining Morgan Keegan, Read spent eight years at Natixis Bleichroeder, most recently as the energy group research head. While at Natixis, Read’s coverage spanned multiple categories within the Energy sector, including independent refiners, diversified energy service providers and drilling contractors.