Sarah Ketterer (Trades, Portfolio) is CEO of Causeway Capital Management LLC, an investment firm with $28 billion in assets. She joins two members of her team, Causeway portfolio managers Jamie Doyle and Conor Muldoon, for a Question & Answer session with GuruFocus readers. To submit a question to them about anything related to investing, simply post it in the comments section below.
About Sarah and Causeway
Sarah and the team at Causeway focus primarily on companies in international and emerging markets, employing a time-tested bottom-up value approach. The firm’s flagship fund has returned an annualized 8.4% since its October 2001 inception, and the global value equity strategy has returned an annualized 12%, both beating their benchmark index.
Causeway combines rigorous fundamental research with quantitative analysis when evaluating stocks. Their researchers find investment ideas by poring over global stocks markets, and value stocks based on the companies’ yield and ability to profitably reinvest back into the company. As contrarian investors, they seek out-of-favor sectors and companies that face temporary setbacks.
Global Approach and Current Investing
Causeway invests across several geographic strategies, including global (developed markets including the U.S.), international (non-U.S. developed market equities) and emerging markets. Their team explained why they are enthusiastic about investing without borders in their January newsletter, “Beyond Boundaries: The Case for Global Equity:”
“We recognized the benefits of screening globally for undervaluation among the world's best-run companies. The developed global investable universe is comprised of over twice the number of companies in the developed international universe. As a result, global has the potential to deliver significant performance advantages versus international.”
Causeway is also heavily invested in financial stocks, increasing exposure significantly in 2013. They chose bank stocks they identified as being undervalued and undergoing restructuring or deleveraging. Some of their biggest bank positions include JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM, Financial) – a new fourth quarter holding – Citigroup Inc. (C, Financial) and Wells Fargo (WFC, Financial).
As of the fourth quarter, some of Causeway’s largest positions are Ryanair Holdings PLC (RYAAY, Financial), UnitedHealth Group Inc. (UNH, Financial) and Boeing Co. (BA, Financial). Within their International Value portfolio, which GuruFocus follows separately, the largest positions are Akzo Nobel NV (XAMS:AKZA, Financial), Reed Elsevier NV (XAMS:REN, Financial) and Siemens AG (FRA:SIE, Financial).
Asking a Question
To ask Sarah, Jamie and Conor a question about investing, post it as a comment in the box below. We’ll gather questions and get the answers back to you shortly.
See Causeway’s portfolio here, and see the Causeway International Value portfolio here.
