Chuck Akre to Speak at 2018 GuruFocus Value Conference

The guru seeks 'compounding machines'

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Sep 12, 2017
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Renowned value investor Chuck Akre (Trades, Portfolio) founded Akre Capital Management in 1989; his team invests in “a select number of what [they] believe to be extraordinary businesses.”

Utilizing a strategy known as the “three-legged stool,” Akre and his fellow portfolio managers, Tom Saberhagen and John Neff, focus on the quality of the business itself, the skill of the management team and its ability to reinvest free cash flow. When a company meets all three of these requirements, Akre’s firm considers it to be a “compounding machine” and pursues investing in shares at a modest valuation.

With $7.2 billion in total assets under management as of Aug. 31, Akre’s five largest positions are American Tower Corp. (AMT, Financial), Moody’s Corp. (MCO, Financial), MasterCard Inc. (MA, Financial), Markel Corp. (MKL, Financial) and Visa Inc. (V, Financial).

Since its inception in August 2009, the Akre Focus Fund Retail (AKREX) has returned 14.85% and the Akre Focus Fund Institutional (AKRIX) has returned 15.15% as of June 30, beating the Standard & Poor's 500’s total return of 14.06%.

In their second-quarter letter to shareholders, Akre and his team said that while Wall Street is constantly shifting, they remain “far from the madding crowd” and focus “solely on identifying the best all-weather compounding businesses [they] can find and paying reasonable-to-attractive valuations for their shares.”

Akre will be speaking at the 2018 GuruFocus Value Conference in Omaha, Nebraska in May. For more information and to register, follow this link.