Tuesday, May 01, 2007

These are a few of my favorite things . . .

From Legg Mason Capital:

No other fund manager has duplicated Bill Miller's record of beating the S&P 500 for fifteen consecutive calendar years. Over the years, Bill Miller has received numerous accolades for his management record and distinct style, which focuses on a detailed understanding of businesses and their intrinsic value. Legg Mason's Value Equity management team was selected as a winner of Standard & Poor's/Business Week's 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006 "Excellence in Fund Management Awards." From a universe of approximately 15,000 fund management teams, we were recognized for our "ability to demonstrate exceptional levels of leadership while consistently producing strong results over the past five years."

"You just can't use overly simplified valuation techniques to substitute for analysis and thinking. We use valuation metrics as landmarks and not roadblocks.

You don't want to have a static approach in a dynamic world"


- Bill Miller

In 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, and 2005, and 2006, Bill Miller was ranked among the top 30 most influential people in investing when he was named a member of the "Power 30" by SmartMoney. Bill Miller was also heralded by Money magazine as "The Greatest Money Manager of the 1990's" and named Morningstar's 1998 "Domestic Equity Manager of the Year."
His unique investment management philosophy and approach to undervalued stocks has also made Bill Miller the subject of numerous profiles in publications, including The New York Times, Barron's, Business Week, Kiplinger's, Money, The Wall Street Journal, Fortune, Smart Money and Janet Lowe's book The Man Who Beats the S&P; Investing with Bill Miller.

In 1996, Legg Mason Capital Management introduced Value Equity, an institutional separate account product modeled after Bill's highly successful mutual fund, the Legg Mason Value Trust. Bill Miller and Kyle Legg co-manage the institutional separate account product. Mary Chris Gay manages related domestic and international funds.

The Value Equity portfolio typically consists of approximately thirty to fifty names that we believe trade at large discounts to our assessment of their expected value and offer the best opportunity for the highest long-term risk-adjusted rates of return. Our stock selection process focuses on companies with market capitalizations generally greater than $10 billion at the time of purchase. Adhering firmly to a value-driven, research-intensive investment process, the Value Equity team focuses on assessing expected value of companies and strives to buy stocks at significant discounts to our assessment of their worth. We assess a company's expected value by employing multiple valuation methodologies combined with rigorous business analysis, concentrating on a company's ability to generate excess cash flow, earn high returns on capital, and allocate capital efficiently. Through each stage of the investment philosophy we seek to mitigate risk through our rigorous research process, regular monitoring of business fundamentals, and appropriate diversification.

Our objective is to outperform the client’s stated benchmark, net of fees, over rolling three-year time periods. The benchmark is the cost of capital for active management.

Canadians can take advantage of Bill Miller's Value Investing style through the CI Value Trust Fund from CI Investments.

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