Founded in 1985, Oak Associates has been managing growth-oriented portfolios for over 25 years.
Here are some of the investment philosophies which have guided our firm throughout its history. While we have made adjustments to our investment approach over the years, the core philosophies remain just as important as they were upon our founding.
Long-term focus
To us, the appeal of an investment is driven by the long-term fundamentals of the company and its opportunity set, rather than short-term trading factors. We believe that this long-term mindset is increasingly valuable in today’s short-term oriented market.
Concentrated portfolios
We construct our portfolios with our best ideas, which means that our favorite stock ideas aren’t diluted by investments in less-favored positions. A recent study showed that managers gave up performance because they failed to concentrate in their best ideas. Concentration takes discipline, conviction and experience. We continue to adhere to a strategy of concentrated portfolios.
Low turnover
Hospital wings are never endowed by day traders. When we invest in a company, we do so with the intention of holding that stock for several years, not a few quarters. Low turnover can have the effect of minimizing trading costs as well as tempering the natural human instinct to act upon every data point.
Contrarian
Being a good investor often requires not doing what the rest of the market is doing. While it’s difficult to go against the crowd - because as humans we are psychologically wired to herd - we believe that long-term outperformance requires it. One benefit of being located in Akron, Ohio (aside from being a great place to live), is that we are removed from the financial centers in other areas of the country, minimizing our chances of being swept up by the herd mentality. We value independent thinking and believe it is beneficial to our investment perspective.
We appreciate the many long-term shareholders who invest alongside us in the Oak Associates Funds. Employees and their families are among the largest shareholders in the funds.
The value of a Fund's investments will vary from day to day in response to the activities of individual companies and general market and economic conditions. Due to the limited number of underlying investments, concentrated funds are more susceptible to the price movements of any one holding and thus are generally more volatile than a more broadly diversified portfolio.