PORTFOLIO SPOTLIGHT

Manager Patrick English Age 62

Professional Background He joined FMI in 1986 , and is the executive chairman and co-chief investment officer . He is also a partner and member of the Portfolio Management Committee . He began his career in research at Dodge & Cox .

Outside Interests He is married with four adult sons and two grandchildren . He enjoys a pickup game of basketball , golfing on weekends and participating in local philanthropy , and he is active in civics .

SURVEY AND RANKING

Manager Jonathan Bloom Age 42

Professional Background He joined FMI in 2010 , and is co-chief investment officer , a partner at the firm and a member of its Portfolio Management Committee .

Outside Interests In addition to family time with his wife and four kids under age 12 , he enjoys racquet sports , antique maps and artwork . He supports local charities focused on childhood education and disadvantaged communities .

SPONSORED BY

independent RIAs who have already made their money and want to keep it . These are investors seeking equity returns but with an eye toward downside protection .

The Next 15 Years

FMI highlights the contrarian nature of the Common Stock Fund , which Bloom says results from its value orientation , where the managers lean into the wind and venture into out-of-favor stocks . “ From our perspective , to beat the market you must do something different from the market . We go into situations where businesses are out of favor ,” he explains .

One example is Skechers , one of the world ’ s largest footwear companies and one of the fund ’ s recent largest holdings . Bloom likes the company ’ s high return on invested capital , its net cash position and its high level of insider ownership , among other attributes . He notes the fund started building a position in the company ’ s stock after the price dropped when elevated supply-chain costs weighed on its profit margins .

“ Skechers is a business that in our view should be trading at a much higher multiple than it has been in recent

years ,” Bloom says , though the company has rebounded during the past six months and recently hit a 52-week high .

Bloom says the fund has a flat management structure where the staff of seven analysts that he and English work with have the function of portfolio managers . “ Pat and I , as co-CIOs , are more like traffic cops who work with each of our analysts to vet the individual ideas and serve more in the role of a traditional portfolio manager as you think of it at other organizations ,” Bloom says . “ We ’ ll spend anywhere from several weeks to several months with our analysts on a particular idea .”

Bloom was named FMI ’ s co-chief investment officer at year-end 2022 as part of the firm ’ s transition to new leadership . English says he ’ ll give up day-to-day active involvement at the end of 2025 . “ I ’ ll remain chairman . I ’ ve never sold a share of our stock , so I have a high degree of interest in making sure everything continues to work beautifully ,” he says .

And that includes positioning the Common Stock Fund to capitalize on what he and Bloom believe will be a constructive economic environment during the next 15 years .

42 | FINANCIAL ADVISOR MAGAZINE | JUNE 2023 WWW . FA-MAG . COM