Andrea Paladini
Professional Profile
Former award-winning Equity Analyst, currently Strategic Advisor (Corporate, Branding, IP & Digital), with 25+ years of Financial Markets & Web experience.
Awards & Recognition
1st Place in the 2004 Thomson Extel/Starmine Pan-European Awards, as Best Textiles, Apparel & Luxury Goods Stock Picker and Best Capital Goods (Engineering & Machinery) Earnings Estimator.
Ranking based on 2003 recommendations. Top BUY calls: Bulgari (+65%), Marzotto (+85%), Campari (+32%). Top SELL picks: Parmalat (-95%), IT Holding (-7%).
Excess return performance: Luxury Goods, Textile & Apparel +18.6%, Food +24.3%, Beverage +12.2%, Household & Personal care +22.3%, Leisure, Entertainment & Hotels +20.4%.
6th Place in the 2003 Thomson Extel/StarMine European Top 10 Analysts Ranking for Earnings Estimates Accuracy.
3rd Place in the 2002 Milano Finanza-Lombard's survey on the Best Italian Equity Research Teams (with colleagues at Centrosim SIM).
Notable Achievements
One of the very few analysts who timely warned investors about critical corporate situations, including:
- Parmalat (€14.3 billion bankruptcy - described by the SEC as "one of the largest and most brazen corporate financial frauds in history")
- Mariella Burani and IT Holding (extensive corporate frauds and mismanagement cases)
One of the main contributors to the IMD (International Institute for Management Development, Lausanne, Switzerland) case study: "Parmalat SpA: an impressive milking system" (October 2004), which details the company's collapse and explores broader corporate governance issues.
Early analyst warning about the Internet bubble in 1999-2000 and about US structural imbalances which led to the 2008-2009 financial crisis.
"Andrea was one of the most important, insightful and influential contributors to the case study that IMD published explaining the collapse of Parmalat. Andrea's analysis of Parmalat before its collapse was unique and he was, in my view, the only analyst who fully understood the companies problems and their causes. The investors who read his reports and followed his advice probably saved many millions of Euros. In addition to being an incredibly intelligent man, Andrea was a pleasure to work with and is a charming, helpful, interesting person."
Professional Experience
Advisor (April 2009 – Present): Corporate, Branding & Intellectual Property Advisor, Strategic and Management Consulting, IP, Digital Assets and Internet Consulting.
Head of Equity Research at Santander Private Banking (July 2007 – May 2008): Started up and managed the bank's Italian Equity Research Department. Achieved outstanding performance: +14.2% vs -14.4% for FTSE Mib Index during tenure (Oct 30, 2007 - May 16, 2008). Overall period performance: +18.8% vs -44% for FTSE Mib (Oct 30, 2007 - Aug 27, 2009).
Equity Analyst at Centrobanca (September 2006 – January 2007): Covered Consumer Goods, Luxury Goods, Small & Mid Caps.
Equity Analyst at Centrosim SIM (August 1999 – September 2004): Covered Consumer Goods, Luxury Goods, Industrials, Small & Mid Caps. Extel Starmine ranked with strong track record in both long and short recommendations and excess return performance over market indices.
Early Career Training (September 1995 – July 1999): Equity Research & Capital Markets training with Mr. Maurizio Taglianini (Sales Director for Société Générale - SG Securities Ltd, London, formerly Paribas Capital Markets). Attended IPO roadshows including Gucci and Telstra, conducted private Equity Research work.
Investment Style & Skills
Primarily value investing and bottom-up stockpicking. Actively investing since 1990. "Internet guy" since the early 90s.
Languages: Italian (native), English (fluent), French (fluent), Spanish & Portuguese (basic).
Technical Skills: Bloomberg, Reuters, Excel, Word, Windows, Linux, advanced Web tools, main technical analysis (charting) tools.
Education: Università degli Studi di Pavia (Business Administration, college dropout); ITC "A. Bordoni" - Accountancy Diploma (60/60).