The Oakmark family of mutual funds is an extension of Harris Associates’ value-focused approach to investing. For more about our selection of funds, visit Oakmark.com.
Since the founding of Harris Associates, investment adviser to the Oakmark Funds, we have hit several milestones bringing us to where we are today.
Harris Associates L.P. is founded, born out of Irving Harris’ family office.
The Oakmark Fund is launched, providing investors access to our U.S. equity research in a mutual fund format. We also introduced our Concentrated Strategy to institutional investors.
We seek to invest in businesses that are priced at substantial discounts to our estimate of intrinsic value. We think this approach provides us with a “margin of safety,” which reduces risk and allows for above-average returns over time.
We view every stock purchase as if we are buying a piece of a business and seek to invest with management teams that are well-aligned with shareholders. And we believe our clients should demand the same from their investment managers.
We are patient investors who believe that the intrinsic value of an underlying business will be recognized by the market over time. When we find investments that meet our criteria, we invest as owners.
Businesses trading at a significant discount to our estimate of their intrinsic value
Companies expected to grow per share value over the long term
Executive teams that think and act like owners
We adhere to a fundamental, bottom-up idea generation process. It starts with our generalist analysts who rely on intensive fundamental research across industries to identify investment opportunities. Ideas that meet our business and management criteria are then vetted by the investment committee. During this time, our investment professionals debate the merits of the ideas and our seasoned investment committee members vote on the outcome.
The investment opportunities that make it through this rigorous process are then used to build portfolios for our clients, one investment at a time.
Portfolio: Portfolio managers select stocks from an approved list for their specific strategy. The most attractive approved stocks are weighted by upside, with consideration for diversification and strategy guidelines.
Approved Lists: The most attractive ideas are presented to our experienced U.S. and international investment committees. The committees determine which ideas should be added to our approved lists based on our price and quality criteria.
Research Scope: Portfolio managers and analysts conduct extensive fundamental research, utilizing financial reports, industry contacts and 1,500 onsite management meetings per year to assess business and management quality.
Eligible Stocks: We use qualitative and quantitative metrics based on considerations, such as the regulatory environment, ownership issues or liquidity constraints to narrow the universe.
Initial Universe: There is a universe of thousands of investible equities to choose from.
Our greatest competitive advantage is our long-term investment horizon. We seek to understand how businesses plan to grow over time and buy them when their share prices are out of favor.
—Michael Neary, Partner and Client Portfolio Manager
We believe our bottom-up research process allows us to identify some of the most attractive investment opportunities in the market. We invest in them based on the strength of our conviction so our best ideas can have a meaningful impact on portfolio performance. We think focusing on our best ideas minimizes risk and maximizes return potential over the long run.
Our research analysts are generalists. This approach ensures that we remain industry agnostic and focused on finding value, regardless of which industries or geographies are in favor at the moment.
As part of the firm’s research process, analysts set a buy target at a significant discount to our estimate of intrinsic value. A sell target is also set, typically at 90 percent to 100 percent of intrinsic value. Analysts routinely revisit these targets as the company’s business fundamentals change.
Active Management
High Conviction
Consistency
As value investors, we focus on estimating the intrinsic value of a business – not on predicting the near-term market price. This long-term, patient approach allows to us look beyond the short-term noise as we wait for price and value to converge.
—Alex Fitch, Director of U.S. Research
Natixis Investment Managers serves financial professionals with more insightful ways to construct portfolios. Powered by the expertise of 20 specialized investment managers globally, Natixis applies active thinking® to deliver proactive solutions that help clients pursue better outcomes in all markets. Learn more.
Our greatest value to you is found in the people who deliver our services. Whether they are involved in security analysis, allocation or meeting your account’s needs, each is dedicated to ensuring our relationship delivers the expertise you seek.
