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David G. Herro, CFA
Harris Associates L.P.
Two North LaSalle Street
Suite 500
Chicago, IL 60602
David Herro is the portfolio manager for the portion of the assets allocated to Harris Associates L.P. (“Harris Associates”). Harris Associates, based in Chicago, is a wholly-owned subsidiary of CDC Ixis Asset Management. Herro has managed The Oakmark International Fund and The Oakmark International Small Cap Fund since their inceptions in 1992 and 1995, respectively. Herro earned a B.S. degree in Accounting from the University of Wisconsin-Platteville and an M.A. degree from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. He has over 15 years of investment experience. As of December 31, 2004, Herro managed approximately $15 billion in equity and fixed-income assets. Herro has been an investment manager to Masters’ Select International Fund since its inception in 1997. Approximately 23% of the Fund’s assets are managed by Herro, who employs a highly-disciplined, bottom-up approach to stock picking. When evaluating potential investments, three key factors are typically assessed:
When looking for new investment ideas, Herro attempts to:
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Companies trading at less than 60% of the firm’s estimate of underlying business value |
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Free cash flows and intelligent investment of excess cash |
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High level of manager ownership |
Herro begins with an investment universe of 5,000 to 6,000 non-U.S. stocks that are publicly traded and have information readily available. Herro then screens these stocks. The first screen is a “country cut” which eliminates stocks of countries that he believes do not have the adequate legal/regulatory structure and investment infrastructure in place to protect the interests of shareholders. Once such countries are eliminated, the next cut is one of market capitalization, eliminating those stocks whose market capitalizations are too small or do not trade at sufficient levels of liquidity. The final cut is one of valuation. After eliminating those stocks whose valuations are unreasonably high, Herro is left with a working list of approximately 200 to 300 stocks to begin applying his value discipline.
Herro employs several risk controls that he considers important when constructing international portfolios:
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Currency risk |
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Political risk |
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Individual security/company-specific risk |
Due to his bottom-up approach, Herro focuses on stock selection rather than industry or country selection. Currency hedging is done defensively and only if the dollar appears excessively undervalued. Hedging is based on real interest rate spreads, purchasing power parity differentials and differences in growth and productivity.
References to other mutual funds should not be deemed an offer to sell or solicitation of an offer to buy shares of such funds.
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