Oakmark Equity and Income Fund Outperforms Market Indices in the Third Quarter

In the third quarter of 2024, the Oakmark Equity and Income Fund, advised by Harris Associates, recorded remarkable investment successes. The portfolio achieved a return of 6.16%, outperforming both the Lipper Balanced Fund Index at 5.55% and the S&P 500 Index, whose equity portfolio increased by 5.89%. The equity within the investment grew even by 7.30%. The fund management allocated its investments to 60.1% equities, 38.4% fixed-income securities, and held 1.5% in cash. A notable stock in the fund’s portfolio is LPL Financial Holdings. The San Diego-based company offers comprehensive platform solutions for brokerage and investment advisory services. In just one month, the stock rose by a remarkable 18.30%. Over the past year, the security saw an increase of 6.80% and closed at $243.36 on October 10, 2024. Interestingly, LPL Financial Holdings is not among the 31 most popular stocks with hedge funds. Nonetheless, in the second quarter, 51 hedge funds held the stock in their portfolios, an increase from 47 the previous quarter. The company’s assets rose to an impressive $1.5 trillion, while organic net new assets grew by 8% to $29 billion. Despite these impressive performances, the management is considering forward-looking investments in AI stocks, which have the potential to realize even higher returns in a shorter time. For investors, looking at affordable AI stocks trading at less than five times their earnings could be promising.