Warren Buffett is the best assessor of financial markets out there, according to a poll conducted by Bloomberg among its clients.

Bill Gross, the founder and co-chief investment officer of Pacific Investment Management, took the first runner-up spot, followed by billionaire George Soros.

Fourth place went to New York University Professor Nouriel Roubini, followed by Marc Faber, publisher of the Gloom, Boom & Doom Report.

“The other people in the list have their merit, but I think consistency — which does not mean total absence of mistakes — is the key to rating Buffett,” poll respondent Frédéric Bach, head of fixed- income investments at London-based Falcon Money Management, told the news service.

Buffett, 79, is one of the world's richest men and head of Berkshire Hathaway, the investment platform that made him billions.

Whispered to be his successor at Berkshire Hathaway is David Sokol, who argues that Buffett has gone through his most successful period ever over the last year and a half.

“I think history will show that the last 18 months may have been Warren Buffett's most successful period,” Sokol tells CNBC.

“Some of the decisions and investments that Berkshire has been able to make are real reflections of his discipline and being ready when the opportunity comes toward you. . . He's going a great job. And frankly, he seems in better health today than he did 10 years ago when I first met him.”