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Multi Cap Alternative

Strategy Facts

  • Assets Under Management
    $423 Million
    as of 06/30/2024
  • Investment Minimum
    $25 Million
  • Market Cap Mandate:
    Companies of all sizes
  • Management
      Wally Weitz, CFA®
    Drew Weitz
  • Literature
  • Composite Inception
    06/01/1983

Investment Approach

Strategy and Process

Long-biased, flexible portfolio

A core portfolio with multi-cap high-conviction, long-equity holdings and short positions used in a variety of ways.

We routinely use short positions to hedge against specific company, sector or market risks. Opportunistically, we may use shorts “offensively” with the expectation a security will decline in value, or as part of relatively complex investments such as convergence trades or merger arbitrage.

Value driven, private-buyer mindset

The value of a business is a function of the cash flows it will generate over time.

We think about and value a business like a private buyer and look to buy shares at a discount to our calculation of intrinsic value.

Portfolio Manager tenure

The portfolio has been managed since its 1983 inception by founder and co-CIO Wally Weitz, one of the longest-tenured managers in the representative portfolio’s Morningstar™ category

Investment Process

Mid-Cap Alternative Cap Strategy Funnel

 

Portfolio

Asset Allocation
% of Net Assets as of 06/30/2024

EQUITY BREAKDOWN
% of Net Assets as of 06/30/2024

Fund Russell 3000 Index
Financials 30.3 13.2
Communication Services 21.3 8.8
Health Care 13.6 11.9
Information Technology 11.9 30.1
Consumer Discretionary 8.6 10.1
Materials 3.0 2.5
Industrials 2.8 9.4
Real Estate 2.5 2.6
Consumer Staples 0.0 5.5
Energy 0.0 3.9
Utilities 0.0 2.2

Top Ten Equity Holdings
% of Net Assets as of 06/30/2024

Berkshire Hathaway, Inc. 10.8%
Alphabet, Inc. 5.6%
Thermo Fisher Scientific, Inc. 5.4%
Liberty Broadband Corp. 4.9%
Danaher Corp. 4.9%
Mastercard, Inc. 4.9%
Visa, Inc. 4.8%
CarMax, Inc. 4.3%
Amazon.com, Inc. 4.3%
Global Payments, Inc. 4.0%
% of Net Assets in Top Holdings 53.9%
View Full Portfolio Holdings as of 06/30/2024 (PDF)
Download Portfolio Holdings as of 06/30/2024 (CSV)

Capitalization
% of Common Stock as of 06/30/2024

More than $50 Billion 61.9%
$25 - $50 Billion 6.1%
$10 - $25 Billion 14.0%
$2.5 - $10 Billion 12.9%
Less than $2.5 Billion 5.2%
Weighted Average Market Cap $572.3 Billion

Characteristics
as of 06/30/2024

No. of Equity Issuers 26
Active Share (%) vs. Russell 3000 Index 98.6
Annual Turnover (%) 22

LONG/SHORT INFORMATION as of 06/30/2024

Effective Long Effective Short Effective Net Cash/Cash Equivalents + Short Proceeds Top 10 Long Holdings
106
33
94
46
65
94
5
89
10
54
70
3
54
6
38
Range from 12/31/05 to present Value at 6/30/2024

Risks

An investment in the Strategy involves certain risks, including, among others, the following:

Market Risk
Investment return and principal value will fluctuate, depending on general market conditions and other factors, and it is possible to lose money by investing.

Value Investing Risk
Value investors seek to invest in companies whose stock prices are low in relation to their real worth or future prospects. Undervalued securities are, by definition, out of favor with investors, and there is no way to predict when, if ever, the securities may return to favor.

Concentration Risk
The chance that investment performance may be hurt disproportionately by the poor performance of relatively few stocks. The Strategy tends to invest a high percentage of assets in its largest holdings.

Large Company Risk
Large-capitalization securities tend to have less overall volatility than those issued by smaller capitalization companies, however, large-capitalization securities may underperform securities of smaller capitalization companies during periods when such stocks are in favor.

Mid-Size Company Risk
Mid-capitalization securities may be more vulnerable to adverse developments than those of larger companies due to such companies' limited product lines, markets, financing sources, and management depth. Mid-capitalization securities may be affected to a greater extent by the underperformance of a sector or changing market conditions.

Small Company Risk
Small-capitalization securities may be more volatile and less liquid due to the companies' size, limited product lines, markets, financing sources, and management depth. Small-capitalization securities may be affected to a greater extent by the underperformance of a sector or changing market conditions.

Non-U.S. Securities Risk
The Strategy may invest in securities issued by non-U.S. issuers, which securities may be denominated in U.S. dollars or foreign currencies. Investments in non-U.S. securities may involve additional risks including exchange rate fluctuation, political or economic instability, the imposition of exchange controls, expropriation, limited disclosure and illiquid markets.

Investments in Exchange Traded Funds
ETFs incur certain expenses not incurred by their applicable index, as such, the Strategy will incur additional expenses as a result of investing in an ETF. ETFs that are based on a specific index may not be able to replicate and maintain exactly the composition and relative weightings of securities in the applicable index.

Short Sales Risk
The Strategy sells securities that it has borrowed but does not own (“short sales”), which is a speculative technique. The Strategy will suffer a loss when the price of a security that it holds long decreases or the price of a security that it has sold short increases. Losses on short sales arise from increases in the value of the security sold short, and therefore are theoretically unlimited. Because the Strategy invests in both long and short equity positions, the Strategy has overall exposure to changes in value of equity securities that is far greater than its net asset value. This may magnify gains and losses and increase the volatility of investment returns. 

Leverage Risk
The Strategy may borrow from banks or brokers and pledge its assets in connection with any borrowing. If the interest expense on borrowings is greater than the income and increase in value of the securities purchased with the proceeds of the borrowings, then the use of leverage will decrease investment returns. The use of leverage also tends to magnify volatility of returns.

Derivatives Risk
Derivatives are instruments, such as futures and forward contracts, whose value is derived from that of other assets, rates or indices. The use of derivatives for non-hedging purposes may be considered to carry more risk than other types of investments. Derivative instruments are subject to a number of risks including counterparty, liquidity, interest rate, market, credit and management risks, and the risk of improper valuation. Changes in the value of a derivative may not correlate perfectly with the underlying asset, rate or index, and in some cases the Strategy could lose more than the principal amount invested.

Failure to Meet Investment Objective
There can be no assurance that the Strategy will meet its investment objective.

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