THE OAKMARK SELECT FUND

Report from Bill Nygren and Henry Berghoef, Portfolio Managers

William C. Nygren photo Henry R. Berghoef photo

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)
bar chart
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%.
The performance data quoted represents past performance. The above performance information for the Fund does not reflect the imposition of a 2% redemption fee on shares held for 90 days or less to deter market timers. If reflected, the fee would reduce the performance quoted. Past performance does not guarantee future results. The investment return and principal value will fluctuate so that an investor's shares, when redeemed, may be worth more or less than their original cost. Current performance may be lower or higher than the performance data quoted. Average annual total return measures annualized change, while total return measures aggregate change. To obtain most recent month-end performance data, visit oakmark.com.

* 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.