THE OAKMARK SELECT FUNDReport from Bill Nygren and Henry Berghoef, Portfolio Managers |
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| THE VALUE OF A $10,000 INVESTMENT IN THE OAKMARK SELECT FUND FROM ITS INCEPTION (11/1/96) TO PRESENT (9/30/07) AS COMPARED TO THE STANDARD & POOR'S 500 INDEX3 (UNAUDITED) | |||||
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Average
Annual Total Returns (as of 9/30/07) | |||||
(Unaudited) |
Total Return Last 3 Months* |
1-year |
5-year |
10-year |
Since Inception (11/1/96) |
|
| |||||
| Oakmark Select Fund (Class I) | -6.48%
|
7.00%
|
12.86% |
12.78%
|
16.79%
|
| S&P 500 | 2.03% |
16.44% |
15.45% |
6.57% |
9.10% |
| Lipper Multi-Cap Value Index6 | -1.93% |
12.72% |
16.62% |
7.49% |
9.81% |
|
| |||||
| The graph and table do not reflect the deduction of taxes that a shareholder would pay on fund distributions or the redemption of fund shares. | |||||
Expense Ratio as of 9/30/07 was 0.97%. | |||||
| * Not annualized | |||||
The Oakmark Select Fund had a difficult end to its fiscal year, with fourth quarter losses reducing our one-year return to only 7%. The Fund's best performer for the year, Discovery Holdings, doubled. Good programming, large increases in viewers, and closure of a money-losing division combined to dramatically boost reported earnings. Our fast-food companies, YUM Brands and McDonalds, also posted good earnings gains and very good stock price performance. On the flip side, our stocks with housing or retail exposure—Pulte Homes (new home construction), Home Depot (building supply retailing), Washington Mutual (home mortgages), and Limited Brands (Victoria's Secret)—each experienced losses of over 10% which detracted from performance.
As we said in our mid-quarter letter, last quarter had very disappointing performance. The Fund lost 6% of its value, and that happened despite the S&P 500's slight increase. We believe three general themes explain that weakness. First, industrial and commodity-based businesses performed well, and we don't own any of them. Second, the weak dollar substantially increased the value of non-U.S. earnings. By most estimates, about 40% of the business of S&P 500 companies is generated outside the U.S. However, most of our holdings—with the exception of strong international operators like McDonald's, YUM and IMS—derive the overwhelming majority of their profit domestically. Finally, performance was weak in consumer companies, including retail financials, and we are heavily invested in those areas. One of the reasons investing is so challenging is that there is a strong temptation to sell what has hurt you and to buy what you should have owned. More often than not, that is a mistake. As we look forward, we believe that U.S. consumer financials and retail stocks are among the few sectors that appear to be priced as if a recession is probable. We don't have an opinion as to whether or not a recession is imminent, but if it is, we can't believe it will be confined to consumer businesses. We also believe that abundant financial speculation is present across commodity markets including energy, and we believe that has pushed prices well beyond long-term market clearing levels. Finally, we think the decline in the dollar has created a purchasing power gap that makes further declines less likely—just ask anyone who has recently traveled to Europe what prices there are like!
Last quarter was an extremely frustrating one for us because we believe the stocks we own performed much worse than did the businesses they represent. We believe our portfolio has become more attractive and is properly positioned to capitalize on today's undervalued opportunities. We appreciate your patience as we wait for our stocks to reflect that value.
| William C. Nygren, CFA
Portfolio Manager oaklx@oakmark.com September 30, 2007 |
Henry R. Berghoef, CFA
Portfolio Manager oaklx@oakmark.com |
| THE OAKMARK SELECT FUND |
Schedule of Investments—September 30, 2007
| Name |
Shares Held |
Market Value |
|
| ||
| Common Stocks—95.6% | ||
| Apparel Retail—3.9% | ||
| Limited Brands |
9,280,981 |
$212,441,655 |
| Broadcasting & Cable TV—5.6% | ||
| Discovery Holding Company, Class A (a) | 10,609,500 | $306,084,075 |
| Catalog Retail—4.2% | ||
| Liberty Media Holding Corporation - Interactive, Class A (a) | 11,750,000 | $225,717,500 |
| Home Improvement Retail—2.7% | ||
| The Home Depot, Inc. | 4,600,000 | $149,224,000 |
| Homebuilding—2.9% | ||
| Pulte Homes, Inc. | 11,562,600 | $157,366,986 |
| Movies & Entertainment—8.8% | ||
| Time Warner, Inc. | 13,767,000 | $252,762,120 |
| Viacom, Inc., Class B (a) | 5,775,000 | 225,051,750 |
|
| ||
| 477,813,870 | ||
| Restaurants—14.9% | ||
| Yum! Brands, Inc. | 13,031,000 | $440,838,730 |
| McDonald's Corporation | 6,800,000 | 370,396,000 |
|
| ||
| 811,234,730 | ||
| Specialized Consumer Services—6.2% | ||
| H&R Block, Inc. | 15,919,600 | $337,177,128 |
| Other Diversified Financial Services—3.8% | ||
| JPMorgan Chase & Co. | 4,444,000 | $203,624,080 |
| Thrifts & Mortgage Finance—13.1% | ||
| Washington Mutual, Inc. | 20,167,400 | $712,110,894 |
| Health Care Technology—4.5% | ||
| IMS Health Incorporated | 7,903,441 | $242,161,433 |
| Pharmaceuticals—4.0% | ||
| Bristol-Myers Squibb Company | 7,610,200 | $219,325,964 |
| Diversified Commercial & Professional Services—2.6% | ||
| The Dun & Bradstreet Corporation (b) | 1,434,900 | $141,495,489 |
| Computer Hardware—3.5% | ||
| Dell Inc. (a) | 6,913,000 | $190,798,800 |
| Data Processing & Outsourced Services—3.3% | ||
| Western Union Company | 8,515,400 | $178,567,938 |
| Office Electronics—3.9% | ||
| Xerox Corporation (a) | 12,346,400 | $214,086,576 |
| Semiconductors—4.2% | ||
| Intel Corporation | 8,797,000 | $227,490,419 |
| Wireless Telecommunication Services—3.5% | ||
| Sprint Nextel Corporation | 10,000,000 | $190,000,000 |
| Total Common Stocks (Cost: $3,682,109,502) |
|
5,196,721,537 |
| Shares Held/ Par Value |
||
|
| ||
| Short Term Investments—4.4% | ||
| U.S. Government Agencies—1.1% | ||
| Federal Home Loan Bank, 4.70% due 10/5/2007 | $50,000,000 |
$49,973,889 |
| Federal Farm Credit Bank, 4.72% due 10/16/2007 | 11,000,000 |
10,978,366 |
| Total U.S. Government Agencies (Cost: $60,952,255) |
60,952,255 | |
| Repurchase Agreement—3.3% | ||
| State Street Bank and Trust Co. Repurchase Agreement, 5.00% dated 9/28/2007 due 10/1/2007, repurchase price $177,682,178, collateralized by Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp. Bonds, with rates of 5.528% - 6.103%, with maturities from 6/1/2036 - 7/15/2036, and with an aggregate market value plus accrued interest of $38,301,307, and by Federal National Mortgage Association. Bonds, with a rates of 5.431% - 5.441%, with a maturity of 5/25/2036, and with an aggregate market value plus accrued interest of $148,187,995 |
$177,608,175 |
$177,608,175 |
| Total Repurchase Agreement (Cost: $177,608,175) |
|
177,608,175 |
| Total Short Term Investments (Cost: $238,560,430) |
|
238,560,430 |
| Total Investments (Cost $3,920,669,932)—100.0% |
|
$5,435,281,967 |
| Other Liabilities In Excess Of Other Assets—(0.0)% |
|
(1,666,534) |
|
| ||
| Total Net Assets—100% |
|
$5,433,615,433 |
| (a) | Non-income producing security. |
| (b) | See footnote number five in the Notes to the Financial Statements regarding investments in affiliated issuers. |
See accompanying Notes to Financial Statements.