Editor’s note: This article was first published in August 2013; the roles and affiliations of the investors and market professionals it profiles are as of that year and may have changed.
They are Cava, Turazzini, Viyuela, Moro, Aranzabal, Pellón and Ojeda. They may be best known for their regular appearances on Estrategias de Inversión (a Spanish investment news site) and at stock market events, and practically every investor in Spain has, at some point, made a decision or sought a second opinion about a stock or the way the markets were behaving based on the advice of the people featured below. Some of these analysts I know personally; others I have not had the pleasure of meeting. They are what I would call the most visible faces of investing in Spain.
*I apologise in advance, as I am aware that we are leaving out some great market analysts.
1. José Luis Cava (expressive speculation)
An independent analyst, founder of Bolsacava and author of El arte de especular (The Art of Speculation), among other books. I have to admit that the first time I saw him, with his expressive gestures as he spoke, I thought he was some kind of madman. After following his analyses and talks, I began to ask myself, “Is he a madman or a genius?”, until I finally concluded that he is a genius in the difficult world of speculation, as well as a humble person who doesn’t mind talking about his mistakes. I must say Cava is my favourite, and nobody falls asleep in the room during one of his talks, that’s for sure.
2. Gisela Turazzini (investing turned into poetry)
Gisela Turazzini is the co-founder of Blackbirdgroup. The first time I read one of her market analyses I said to myself, “Damn, that’s beautiful”: she has a gift for giving her view or setting out her strategies. She is without doubt a professional in the art of speculation who will give you very good advice when it comes to investing, such as: “The market gives you the profits, but you manage the losses.” She is simply someone you should follow.
3. Francisco Viyuela (the sensible analyst)
Francisco Viyuela is an independent financial analyst and managing director of Independent Advisors. He is one of the few analysts who explained why liquidating financial institutions would have been cheaper than bailing them out, an opinion that other analysts have perhaps criticised heavily. But whatever the rest of the analysts think, Viyuela is right, whatever anyone says. That makes him a sensible person, and we, as you would expect, prefer sensible people to people with popular opinions or who are incapable of being impartial. Another market professional whose point of view and outlook you need to take into account.
4. Roberto Moro (another much-needed point of view)
Roberto Moro is an independent analyst at Apta Negocios. I have occasionally seen Mr Moro criticised for some mistakes in his stock market predictions, but Mr Moro often departs from the popular recommendations, and many of those criticisms were really about getting the timing wrong, not the substance. It is also true that if he has been wrong more often, it is partly because he has stuck his neck out a lot more than the rest.
Even so, people tend to remember the mistakes far more than the successes, and in his favour, he was one of the few analysts who recommended Gamesa when everyone else was advising against it. So I am sure that, thanks to Roberto Moro’s advice, some people will have made a 500% return on this renewable energy company. In my view, Mr Moro is someone whose opinions you should take very much into account.
5. David Aranzabal (the Forex trader)
David Aranzabal is the founder of Fxforaliving and works as a Forex trader. I am not a fan of trading myself, and currency speculation doesn’t appeal to me.
6. Soledad Pellón and Rafael Ojeda
Last but not least, we have Soledad Pellón, market strategist at IG Markets, and Rafael Ojeda, stock market analyst at Miramar Capital, whose advice and particular outlook we have always taken into account.
Further reading
- Charlie Munger on diversifying your investments, as it has never been explained before
- The essence of intelligent investing to build wealth over the long term
Featured image: Fred Romero from Paris, France, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
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