WEEKLY SECTOR ROTATION
Brian T. Hannon, CFA
Utilities and Aerospace/Defense Sector Rankings Surge as Market Volatility Spikes
Attractiveness rankings have reversed from last week for both the utilities and aerospace/defense
sectors due to higher catalytic scores which are providing an indication of improved earnings
expectations. In other noteworthy moves, the consumer staples sector has broken out of the bottom 5
group of our rankings as earnings revisions and valuation metrics have improved. While due to the
influence of lower catalytic scores, the sector ranking for the consumer discretionary stocks has
declined. See Tables 5 and 6 for top-ranked names from the most attractive sectors and bottomranked names from the least attractive sectors.
Brian T. Hannon, CFA
Founder, Director of Quantitative Equity Research
Qubit Research, LLC
With an academic background in engineering and economics, Brian Hannon began his career in the chemicals industry at the Dupont Company where he held various positions in research & development, project management, and corporate finance. An early indication of his innovative nature occurred while in R&D; as Brian was awarded a patent for his role in the development of a reverse osmosis process for purifying chemicals used in the production of semiconductor devices (Patent# 4,879,043: Manufacture of High Purity Hydrogen Peroxide by Using Reverse Osmosis”).
Pursuing his interest in the stock market, Brian made the transition to the investment management
profession as a research analyst covering chemicals industry companies at the DuPont Pension
Fund. He subsequently joined ASB Capital Management where he originated the unique approach to
structuring multi-factor models that Polaris is based on. Brian moved on to Macquarie Investments
(formerly Delaware Investment Management) where he produced an exceptional track record while
serving as a senior portfolio manager on the institutional large-cap value team. After Brian left
Macquarie, he founded Qubit Investments, LLC to launch an equity market neutral fund. The fund
utilized an updated version of the Polaris multi-factor model, integrated with a systematic portfolio
construction algorithm that Brian developed. He later became the director of equity research at
Sturdivant & Co. and then Quoin Capital, LLC, which was prior to his current role as founder of Qubit
Research, LLC, an independent equity research boutique. Brian holds a BS degree in chemical
engineering and a BS in economics from Carnegie-Mellon University. He is also a CFA charter holder.
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