If you’re looking to invest in companies that rely on good management skills to grow assets rather than gimmicks, you may want to consider the Weitz Partners III Opportunity Fund (MUFT:WPOPX). While this IRA fund seeks long-term capital appreciation by investing in companies of any size and industry, its main criteria for investing is how well-managed, honest and competent the leaders of the companies are.
Here are the specifics for the Weitz Partners III Opportunity Fund for today’s mutual fund spotlight:
Investing Strategy: The fund likes to buy shares of a company that are trading at a significant discount to the market value. It also likes to hold those shares for three to five years. Currently, 85% of the fund’s assets are in stocks, and the remaining assets are held in cash.
Expense Ratio: The fund has a 1.80 expense ratio and $75 transaction fee, making it expensive. It has a Morningstar Rating of five stars.
Top 5 Holdings: The top stocks in the Weitz Partners III Opportunity Fund include online commerce and media holding company Liberty Media Corp., I Active Shares A (NASDAQ:LINTA) at 5.65%, pharmaceutical services company Omnicare, Inc. (NYSE:OCR) at 5.51%, global nonfiction media and entertainment company Discovery Communications, Inc. A (NASDAQ:DISCA) at 5.36%, diversified businesses holding company Berkshire Hathaway Inc. B (NYSE:BRK.B) at 5.18%, and small-cap trading exchange iShares Russell 2000 Index (NYSE:IWM) at 4.89%.
Returns: The Weitz Partners III Opportunity Fund’s 12-month return of about 29% beat the broader markets’ approximate 21% return over the same period. Its five-year return of about 26% also outperformed the Dow Jones Industrial Average’s approximate 13% return and the S&P 500’s approximate 6% return over the same period.
Other Fund Statistics
- Total Assets: $508 million (as of 7/22/11)
- Minimum Investment: $2,500
- Fund manager: Wallace R. Weitz
- Manager’s Tenure: Since December 2005
