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Investment management using direct ownership of individual stocks, allowing for transparency, nimbleness, tax management and customization.
Core Model
Investment Philosophy
The Core Strategy seeks to provide long-term capital appreciation by investing in the common stock of companies that have compelling financial characteristics and disruptive catalysis to drive growth. The strategy focuses on companies with above-average return on invested capital (ROIC), free cash flow margins, and revenue growth. Valuation measures such as the price/earnings ratio relative to the strategy’s benchmark, the S&P 500, are considered but are not a driving factor in the management of the strategy.
Core’s managers are financial analysts that use quantitative screens and a qualitative review to select companies that have the potential to compound their capital value at an above-average rate over a five year period, without incurring above average risk.
The Core Strategy is differentiated from those of other firms in that:
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- It not delivered in a mutual fund or ETF format but rather as individual securities held in each client account.
- The investment philosophy process and the holdings are transparent and easily understood by clients.
- The managers are available for client meetings.
Income and Appreciation Model
Investment Philosophy
Income and Appreciation (I&A) is an equity strategy which seeks an income-tilted total return from its investments. In searching for opportunities, the emphasis is on higher yielding equities to support a target portfolio yield of 100 basis points greater than the S&P 500 index. The investments are generally in common stocks of high quality companies that the portfolio managers believe are committed to paying dividends consistently. Additionally, companies may be included within the portfolio that have been carefully evaluated and deemed likely to increase their dividend over time. The strategy maintains a long term time horizon which generally results in lower turnover.
Factor Information Return Model (FIRM)
Investment Philosophy
FIRM, an acronym for Factor Information Return Model, is an equity strategy which utilizes three transparent factors that have historically driven above average stock returns:
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- Quality: Low volatility in earnings per share (EPS) and low debt to equity
- Valuation: Low price to earnings ratio (P/E)
- Size: Smaller market capitalization
The process utilizes the universe of S&P 500 stocks and ranks each of the three factors independently. Through a regular screening process, equities falling outside of the factor standards are identified for exclusion, along with new candidates for inclusion. The process is predominantly quantitative, which acts to reduce portfolio manager bias in stock selection.
Strategic Opportunities Equity Strategy
Investment Philosophy
Long-term equity investing focusing on:
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- Dynamic change and major unmet needs
- Innovation
- Growth
- We seek to invest in companies that are addressing dynamic change and major unmet needs with high quality proprietary innovation thereby creating the potential for significant multi-year compounding growth.
- We focus on long-term fundamentals and think like business owners.
- Our overall portfolio goal is to achieve superior long-term capital appreciation.
Investment Team
William Butler, CFA
Managing Director
Portfolio Manager
Lee Delaporte
Senior Vice President
Portfolio Manager
Howard Friedner
Executive Managing Director
Portfolio Manager
John Longo, PhD, CFA
Chief Investment Officer
Spencer Marsh, CFA, CIC, RIA
Senior Managing Director
Portfolio Manager
Charles Pawlik, CFA, CFP®
Managing Director
Portfolio Manager