Oakmark Global Select Fund: Investor Class
Average Annual Total Returns 06/30/16
Since Inception 10/02/06 6.55%
10-year N/A
5-year 7.06%
1-year -9.01%
3-month -3.70%
Gross Expense Ratio as of 09/30/15 was 1.13%
Past performance is no guarantee of future results. The performance data quoted represents past performance. Current performance may be lower or higher than the performance data quoted. The investment return and principal value vary so that an investor’s shares when redeemed may be worth more or less than the original cost. To obtain the most recent month-end performance data, view it here.
The Oakmark Global Select Fund declined 4% for the quarter ended June 30, 2016, underperforming the MSCI World Index, which returned 1% for the quarter. The Fund has returned an average of 7% per year since its inception in October 2006, outperforming the MSCI World Index’s annualized gain of 4% over the same period.
The United Kingdom’s vote to exit the European Union caused extreme reaction in the global financial markets. Please see the International lead letter for more information on this topic.
The largest contributor to performance for the quarter was Apache (U.S.), a global oil and gas exploration company, which returned 14%. In addition to higher oil prices, Apache benefitted from solid first quarter results that demonstrated better production at lower costs. The results also showed that Apache continues to reduce its capital intensity with North American well costs down 45% since 2014 due to service prices and efficiencies. In our view, Apache has the balance sheet and asset quality to survive continued volatility in oil and gas prices, and we like how the management team is preserving and growing per share value. One of the reasons we purchased Apache last year was our confidence in the newly appointed CEO, John Christmann. He acted quickly, replacing the operating heads of each region and changing compensation metrics to focus on return, better aligning management with the shareholders. We continue to believe that Apache is inexpensive relative to the value of its properties.
Credit Suisse, one of Switzerland’s top financial services groups, was the largest detractor from performance for the quarter, declining 22%. Although the U.K.’s decision to leave the EU has negatively impacted Credit Suisse Group’s share price, it is important to remember that the bank derives only 2% of its revenues from the U.K., while 13% of its costs are denominated in pound sterling currency, the net result of which may be somewhat positive for profitability. While the decision to leave the EU has caused notable market upheaval, global market declines were actually more extreme in the first few months of 2016 due to significant commodity price weakness, concerns regarding slowed economic growth in the U.S. and China, and monetary decisions by major central banks. Even so, Credit Suisse was able to grow net new money by 6.1% in the first quarter, which was meaningfully better than the 3.8% we estimated for the full fiscal year and higher than our expected normal run-rate of 5%. Additionally, we believe its overall first quarter results were good. Performance in its investment bank division lagged behind the industry, however we recognize that the underperformance is partially due to restructuring activity and we expect performance to improve when restructuring is complete. Also during the first quarter, Credit Suisse realized about half of its intended CHF 1.4 billion in cost cuts, which was ahead of schedule. Although the company’s near-term results may suffer, it is too early to know the extent to which the U.K.’s EU exit will affect Credit Suisse. The company reports its second-quarter financial results in late July, at which time we’ll have a clearer view.
We did not add or remove any names from the Fund during the quarter. Geographically, 48% of the Fund’s holdings were invested in U.S.-domiciled companies as of quarter-end while approximately 43% were allocated to equities in Europe, 5% in Japan and 4% in South Korea.
Despite the weakening of many currencies during the quarter, we continue to believe some currencies are overvalued versus the U.S. dollar. We maintained our defensive currency hedges and ended the quarter with approximately 31% of the Swiss franc exposure hedged.
We continue to focus on finding what we believe are attractive, undervalued international companies with management teams focused on building shareholder value. We thank you for your support.
The holdings mentioned above comprise the following percentages of the Oakmark Global Select Fund’s total net assets as of 06/30/16: Apache Corp. 5.9%, and Credit Suisse Group 4.5%. Portfolio holdings are subject to change without notice and are not intended as recommendations of individual stocks.
Click here to access the full list of holdings for The Oakmark Global Select Fund as of the most recent quarter-end.
The MSCI World Index (Net) is a free float-adjusted market capitalization weighted index that is designed to measure the global equity market performance of developed markets. This benchmark calculates reinvested dividends net of withholding taxes using Luxembourg tax rates. This index is unmanaged and investors cannot invest directly in this index.
Because the Oakmark Global Select Fund is non-diversified, the performance of each holding will have a greater impact on the Fund’s total return, and may make the Fund’s returns more volatile than a more diversified fund.
The percentages of hedge exposure for each foreign currency are calculated by dividing the market value of all same-currency forward contracts by the market value of the underlying equity exposure to that currency.
Investing in foreign securities presents risks that in some ways may be greater than U.S. investments. Those risks include: currency fluctuation; different regulation, accounting standards, trading practices and levels of available information; generally higher transaction costs; and political risks.
The discussion of the Fund’s investments and investment strategy (including current investment themes, the portfolio managers’ research and investment process, and portfolio characteristics) represents the Fund’s investments and the views of the portfolio managers and Harris Associates L.P., the Fund’s investment adviser, at the time of this letter, and are subject to change without notice.
