DELL Dell Inc. (MM)

One of the most interesting debates I've heard lately about this market is whether or not the increase in M&A activity is bullish. The bearish Doug Kass says it's not and the ever-eBULLient Jim Cramer says it is.

I'm not sure who is right. But I'll tell you what is right: putting money on the focused, experienced deal-makers at Evercore Partners (EVR).

This "boutique" investment bank -- I've always loved that phrase, like it's a shop on Fifth Avenue for the 1% (which it is I guess) -- was founded in 1996 by current Chairman Roger Altman, a veteran of Wall Street and Washington.

Altman served as Deputy Secretary of the US Treasury in the late 1970's and again in the 90's and was head of M&A for Blackstone Group (BX) before launching his own firm on the premise that clients would be best served by an investment banking firm free of the conflicts of interest inherent to large, multi-product financial institutions.

Kill the Traders and Other Distractions

Altman believed that this pure advisory model, undistracted by proprietary trading and sell-side research, would serve clients the best and attract the most talented senior finance professionals to the firm.

This is important because while M&A deals seem like quick cash grabs on the surface where big money simply has to make a deal that makes both sides richer, there is a lot more to Evercore's business, including advising on divestitures, restructurings, specialized financings, public offerings, private placements and other strategic transactions.

Re-Building the Core

Though global M&A activity rebounded fairly strong in 2010 and 2011 after the financial crisis, Evercore was a slow starter. You can see from the Price & Consensus chart below that earnings estimates would start out rosy for each year 2010 through 2012, only to be taken down. And, of course, the stock price followed.