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 covers the Oakmark International Fund's performance through late 2013. Since its 1992 launch, it averaged 11.20% annual returns, with a strong 29.34% in the last year. Its expense ratio (annual fee) is just 0.98%, lower than many similar funds, showing good returns don't require high costs. For regular investors, this suggests long-term international investing can pay off, but expect short-term ups and downs (e.g., only 4.56% in the last quarter). Worth a read because it uses real numbers to show the power of patience, without hype.
The Oakmark International Fund (Investor Class) report as of December 31, 2013 shows that since its inception on September 30, 1992, the fund has achieved an average annual total return of 11.20%, with returns of 10.50%, 21.14%, 29.34%, and 4.56% over the past 10 years, 5 years, 1 year, and 3 months
This section focuses on the long-term and short-term performance of the Oakmark International Fund (Investor Class) as of December 31, 2013. By presenting return data since its inception in 1992, the report highlights the fund's ability to steadily appreciate in value across different market cycles, while also disclosing the expense ratio to assess cost efficiency.
The author's core investment argument is that the fund has achieved significant excess returns through a long-term holding strategy, with particularly strong performance over the past 1 year (29.34%) and 5 years (21.14%), validating the effectiveness of its international value investing approach. Counterintuitively, despite robust recent returns, the fund's expense ratio (0.98%) is relatively low, indicating that high returns are not driven by high costs.
The report supports its arguments with historical return and expense ratio data, preserving all figures as follows:
| Time Period | Average Annualized Total Return |
|---|---|
| Since Inception (September 30, 1992) | 11.20% |
| Past 10 Years | 10.50% |
| Past 5 Years | 21.14% |
| Past 1 Year | 29.34% |
| Past 3 Months | 4.56% |
This section does not mention specific companies or assets, analyzing only the fund's overall performance. The fund's portfolio may include international stocks, but the original text does not disclose holdings details.
For investors, the fund's historical data suggests that long-term holding of international value funds can generate stable excess returns, but short-term volatility (e.g., a 3-month return of only 4.56%) must be accepted. It is recommended to focus on similar products with expense ratios below 1% and avoid chasing short-term high returns (e.g., 29.34%), instead adhering to a long-term allocation strategy.