- The Fund (Investor Class) underperformed the benchmark, the MSCI World ex USA Index, for the quarter, but outperformed since inception.
- At the sector level, industrials and materials were the largest contributors to performance, while consumer discretionary and information technology were the largest detractors from performance.
- Geographically, the top three regional allocations are 63.7% in Europe ex U.K., 15.4% in the U.K. and 8.8% in Asia ex Japan. For the quarter, South Korea, Switzerland and Mexico were top contributors to performance. France, Germany and the U.K. were top detractors from performance. Emerging markets accounted for 10.4% of the portfolio.
- Amid heightened volatility, geopolitical headlines, and extreme stock dispersion, we believe equity markets are increasingly driven by short-term noise and crowd behavior rather than underlying business value. Accordingly, portfolios are positioned with patience and discipline, emphasizing companies trading at meaningful discounts to our estimate of intrinsic value, where long-term fundamentals—not headlines—drive expected returns.
The information, data, analyses, and opinions presented herein (including current investment themes, the portfolio managers’ research and investment process, and portfolio characteristics) are for informational purposes only and represent the investments and views of the portfolio managers and Harris Associates L.P. as of the date written and are subject to change and may change based on market and other conditions and without notice. This content is not a recommendation of or an offer to buy or sell a security and is not warranted to be correct, complete or accurate.
Certain comments herein are based on current expectations and are considered “forward-looking statements.” These forward-looking statements reflect assumptions and analyses made by the portfolio managers and Harris Associates L.P. based on their experience and perception of historical trends, current conditions, expected future developments, and other factors they believe are relevant. Actual future results are subject to a number of investment and other risks and may prove to be different from expectations. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements.
The MSCI World ex USA Index (Net) is a free float-adjusted, market capitalization-weighted index that is designed to measure international developed market equity performance, excluding the U.S. The index covers approximately 85% of the free float-adjusted market capitalization in each country. This benchmark calculates reinvested dividends net of withholding taxes. This index is unmanaged and investors cannot invest directly in this index. On occasion, Harris may determine, based on its analysis of a particular multi-national issuer, that a country classification different from MSCI best reflects the issuer’s country of investment risk. In these instances, reports with country weights and performance attribution will differ from reports using MSCI classifications. Harris uses its own country classifications in its reporting processes, and these classifications are reflected in the included materials.
The Fund’s portfolio tends to be invested in a relatively small number of stocks. As a result, the appreciation or depreciation of any one security held by the Fund will have a greater impact on the Fund’s net asset value than it would if the Fund invested in a larger number of securities. Although that strategy has the potential to generate attractive returns over time, it also increases the Fund’s volatility.
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.
