Oakmark is the mutual fund family launched in 1991 by Harris Associates, the Chicago deep-value firm founded in 1976 (about $105bn AUM). Bill Nygren runs the flagship Oakmark Fund and David Herro the Oakmark International Fund, buying businesses at large discounts to intrinsic value and holding them like owners — publishing quarterly fund commentaries, market commentaries and insight articles.
This report shows how the Oakmark Fund performed by mid-2016. Since 1991, it has averaged over 12% annual returns, but lost about 3% in the past year due to market ups and downs. For regular investors, the key takeaway is to focus on long-term results, not short-term drops. The fund's fee of 0.85% is reasonable, which helps long-term growth. Worth reading because it uses real numbers to explain why patience matters in investing.
The average annualized total returns of the Oakmark Fund (Investor Class) as of June 30, 2016, are as follows: 12.28% since inception on August 5, 1991, 8.20% over 10 years, 11.32% over 5 years, -2.99% over 1 year, and 1.33% over 3 months. The gross expense ratio (as of September 30, 2015) is 0.85%.
This section focuses on the long-term and short-term performance of the Oakmark Fund (Investor Class) as of June 30, 2016. The report aims to showcase the fund's historical return record since its inception in 1991 and reveal the impact of short-term market volatility on recent returns.
The author's core investment argument is that the Oakmark Fund has delivered strong long-term performance, but its short-term (1-year) return is negative, highlighting the significant impact of market volatility on near-term gains. Counterintuitively, despite 10-year and 5-year annualized returns exceeding 8%, the 1-year return recorded -2.99%, indicating that the fund faced pressure during the recent market correction.
| Time Period | Annualized Total Return |
|---|---|
| Since Inception (1991/08/05) | 12.28% |
| 10-Year | 8.20% |
| 5-Year | 11.32% |
| 1-Year | -2.99% |
| 3-Month | 1.33% |
This section does not mention specific companies or assets, focusing solely on the performance data of the Oakmark Fund (Investor Class) itself. The fund's portfolio composition should be referenced in other sections.
For investors, this data indicates that holding the Oakmark Fund over the long term can yield substantial returns (annualized over 12% since inception), but short-term volatility is unavoidable (a nearly 3% loss in one year). Investors should focus on the fund's long-term trend rather than short-term drawdowns. Additionally, the 0.85% expense ratio is competitive among similar actively managed funds, benefiting long-term compounding. It is recommended to treat the fund as a core holding in asset allocation and tolerate short-term fluctuations.