Harris Associates

Last updated
Harris Associates
Company type Private
Industry Investment Management
Founded1976;49 years ago (1976)
FounderVictor Morgenstern
Headquarters Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Products
AUM US$102 billion (Q2 2024)
Number of employees
217 (July 2024)
Parent Natixis Investment Managers
Website www.harrisassoc.com
Footnotes /references
[1]

Harris Associates L.P. is a Chicago-based investment company that has $102 billion under management [2] as of June 30, 2024. Harris manages long-only U.S. equity, international equity, and global equity strategies which are offered through its mutual fund company, the Oakmark Funds, and other types of vehicles. Harris is wholly owned by Natixis Investment Managers, an American-French financial services firm that is principally owned by BPCE. Harris Associates retains full control of investment decisions, investment philosophy, and day-to-day operations.

Contents

History

Harris Associates was founded in 1976 by Victor Morgenstern, [3] Myron Szold, Roger Brown, Ralph Wanger, [4] Joe Braucher, Peter Foreman, Ed Neisser and Earl Rusnak, who had previously worked in the private investment office of Chicago entrepreneur Irving Harris. Irving Harris was not directly related to the Norman Harris who established Harris Bank.[ citation needed ].

Investment philosophy

Harris Associates is considered to be a value investor. The investment process entails investing in businesses that are trading at a discount to intrinsic value. The intrinsic value is based on a discounted cash flow analysis that takes into account the quality of management and the company's ability to grow. [5] According to research by Morningstar in April 2013 which analyzed the performance of the seven Oakmark funds over a five-year period, four were ranked in at least the top 2% in their relevant categories. [6]

Investment managers

As of 2020, notable investment managers include Bill Nygren, who joined in 1983 [7] is known for a value investing approach. [8]

Supreme Court case

In 2009, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear Jones v. Harris Associates , a suit brought in federal court by a group of mutual fund investors against the firm. The mutual fund investors, who are investors in the Oakmark funds, claimed that the funds have overpaid their advisor (Harris Associates), and that the fees that Harris Associates charges Oakmark investors are higher than the fees that Harris charges institutional clients. [9]

The suit previously had been thrown out by the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit in 2008, with a judge who is a noted free-market backer, Richard Posner arguing that sometimes marketplaces need to be reined in. [10] [11]

In March 2010, the Supreme Court unanimously vacated the Seventh Circuit's ruling and remanded the case. [12]

Related Research Articles

Passive management is an investing strategy that tracks a market-weighted index or portfolio. Passive management is most common on the equity market, where index funds track a stock market index, but it is becoming more common in other investment types, including bonds, commodities and hedge funds.

An index fund is a mutual fund or exchange-traded fund (ETF) designed to follow certain preset rules so that it can replicate the performance ("track") of a specified basket of underlying investments. While index providers often emphasize that they are for-profit organizations, index providers have the ability to act as "reluctant regulators" when determining which companies are suitable for an index. Those rules may include tracking prominent indices like the S&P 500 or the Dow Jones Industrial Average or implementation rules, such as tax-management, tracking error minimization, large block trading or patient/flexible trading strategies that allow for greater tracking error but lower market impact costs. Index funds may also have rules that screen for social and sustainable criteria.

A closed-end fund (CEF), also known as a closed-end mutual fund, is an investment vehicle fund that raises capital by issuing a fixed number of shares at its inception, and then invests that capital in financial assets such as stocks and bonds. After inception it is closed to new capital, although fund managers sometimes employ leverage. Investors can buy and sell the existing shares in secondary markets.

A mutual fund is an investment fund that pools money from many investors to purchase securities. The term is typically used in the United States, Canada, and India, while similar structures across the globe include the SICAV in Europe, and the open-ended investment company (OEIC) in the UK.

An exchange-traded fund (ETF) is a type of investment fund that is also an exchange-traded product, i.e., it is traded on stock exchanges. ETFs own financial assets such as stocks, bonds, currencies, debts, futures contracts, and/or commodities such as gold bars. Many ETFs provide some level of diversification compared to owning an individual stock.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Value investing</span> Investment paradigm

Value investing is an investment paradigm that involves buying securities that appear underpriced by some form of fundamental analysis. Modern value investing derives from the investment philosophy taught by Benjamin Graham and David Dodd at Columbia Business School starting in 1928 and subsequently developed in their 1934 text Security Analysis.

Net asset value (NAV) is the value of an entity's assets minus the value of its liabilities, often in relation to open-end, mutual funds, hedge funds, and venture capital funds. Shares of such funds registered with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission are usually bought and redeemed at their net asset value. It is also a key figure with regard to hedge funds and venture capital funds when calculating the value of the underlying investments in these funds by investors. This may also be the same as the book value or the equity value of a business. Net asset value may represent the value of the total equity, or it may be divided by the number of shares outstanding held by investors, thereby representing the net asset value per share.

Morningstar, Inc. is an American financial services firm headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, founded by Joe Mansueto in 1984. It provides an array of investment research and investment management services.

In corporate finance, distressed securities are securities over companies or government entities that are experiencing financial or operational distress, default, or are under bankruptcy. As far as debt securities, this is called distressed debt. Purchasing or holding such distressed-debt creates significant risk due to the possibility that bankruptcy may render such securities worthless.

Active management is an approach to investing. In an actively managed portfolio of investments, the investor selects the investments that make up the portfolio. Active management is often compared to passive management or index investing.

A "fund of funds" (FOF) is an investment strategy of holding a portfolio of other investment funds rather than investing directly in stocks, bonds or other securities. This type of investing is often referred to as multi-manager investment. A fund of funds may be "fettered", meaning that it invests only in funds managed by the same investment company, or "unfettered", meaning that it can invest in external funds run by other managers.

In finance, assets under management (AUM), sometimes called fund under management, refers to the total market value of all financial assets that a financial institution—such as a mutual fund, venture capital firm, or depository institution—or a decentralized network protocol manages and invests, typically on behalf of its clients. Funds may be managed for clients, platform users, or solely for themselves, such as in the case of a financial institution which has mutual funds or holds its own venture capital. The definition and formula for calculating AUM may differ from one entity to another.

Mutual fund fees and expenses are charges that may be incurred by investors who hold mutual funds. Operating a mutual fund involves costs, including shareholder transaction costs, investment advisory fees, and marketing and distribution expenses. Funds pass along these costs to investors in several ways.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dodge & Cox</span> American Investment Firm

Dodge & Cox is an American mutual fund company, founded in 1930 by Van Duyn Dodge and E. Morris Cox, that provides professional investment management services.

Robert J. Sanborn is a fund manager, Portfolio manager and managing member of Sanborn Kilcollin Partners, LLC an investment management firm started in 2001. The firm is based in Chicago and manages an equity fund along with separately managed accounts. Mr. Sanborn manages the investments with portfolio manager Joshua Mangoubi. Mr. Sanborn was the portfolio manager of The Oakmark Fund, the flagship mutual fund of Harris Associates L.P., from Oakmark’s launch in August 1991 through March 2000. From 1983 to 1988 he was a security analyst and equity portfolio manager for the Ohio State Teachers Retirement System.

Otis "Mason" Hawkins is an American value investor and the founder, chairman, and former chief executive officer of Southeastern Asset Management, Inc. In 1975, Hawkins founded Southeastern Asset Management, a $35 billion employee-owned, global investment management firm and the investment advisor to the Longleaf Partners Funds, a suite of mutual funds and UCITS funds.

Jones v. Harris Associates L.P., 559 U.S. 335 (2010), is a case decided by the United States Supreme Court in which investors claimed that the fees they paid to an investment advisor were too steep, violating the Investment Company Act of 1940.

Jean-Marie Eveillard is a French international investor who currently serves as the senior investment adviser to First Eagle Funds. Eveillard, who served more than a quarter century as a portfolio manager, was co-honored in 2001 by Morningstar, Inc. as "Stock Manager of the Year" and was a finalist for their 2009 "fund manager of the decade award for non-U.S. stocks". In 2003, the group gave him a "Fund Manager Lifetime Achievement" award.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Investment fund</span> Way of investing money alongside other investors

An investment fund is a way of investing money alongside other investors in order to benefit from the inherent advantages of working as part of a group such as reducing the risks of the investment by a significant percentage. These advantages include an ability to:

John L. Keeley Jr. was an American investment manager and philanthropist. For almost 40 years, he ran Chicago-based Keeley Asset Management, which today is part of Keeley Teton Advisors, which is an affiliate of GAMCO Investors. Keeley and his family donated funds to help create the John L. Keeley Center for Financial Services at the DePaul University in Chicago and the Barbara G. & John L. Keeley, Jr. Center for Emergency Medicine Education at Loyola University Medical Center near Chicago.

References

  1. "Form ADV" (PDF). SEC. Archived (PDF) from the original on September 2, 2024. Retrieved September 1, 2024.
  2. "Who We Are | Strategic Global Asset Management". Archived from the original on 2019-04-11. Retrieved 2022-05-22.
  3. "Stocks". 5 September 2023.[ dead link ]
  4. "Wanger Investment Management". Bloomberg. Archived from the original on December 24, 2013.
  5. http://analysis.morningstar.com/analystreport/far.aspx?t=OAKLX&region=USA&culture=en-us
  6. "Earning Their Keep".
  7. "Bill Nygren". news.morningstar.com. Archived from the original on 2017-02-23. Retrieved 2020-04-10.
  8. "Oakmark Slumps, but Potential Remains". Morningstar, Inc. 19 March 2020. Archived from the original on 2020-04-10. Retrieved 2020-04-10.
  9. "Mutual fund fee case tests what is a reasonable charge". Chicago Tribune. 3 November 2009.
  10. "Mutual fund fee case tests what is a reasonable charge". Chicago Tribune. 3 November 2009.
  11. "Mutual Fund Fee Dispute Divides U.S. Supreme Court (Update2)". Bloomberg. 2 November 2009.
  12. "Today's opinions". 30 March 2010. Archived from the original on 17 May 2010. Retrieved 12 May 2010.