A common accusation leveled against value investing is that it is obsessively focused on finding “cheap” or “beat up” stocks. This is an unfortunate misperception. Brandes’ concept of value necessarily considers other factors, including growth potential, asset quality and attributes that can defend a company’s valuation from competitive encroachments. We recognize that the marketplace may periodically become enamored with certain secular themes and specific companies that benefit from them. But at Brandes we remain valuation disciplined, typically avoiding the more glamorous companies that we may view as excessively priced in spite of attractive fundamental outlooks. Instead, we often find opportunities in companies benefiting from similar secular themes with healthy, but perhaps more pedestrian, growth rates that the market may have ignored.
Source: Brandes Value Podcast June 2023. (Podcast)
Brent Fredberg is a Director, Investments Group, a Senior Analyst and leader of the Technology Research Team. Mr. Fredberg sits on the Consumer Products Research Team, with a primary focus on household durables companies. He is a member of the Global Large-Cap Investment Committee and the Investment Oversight Committee. Mr Fredberg is a limited partner of the firm’s parent company.
Before joining Brandes, Mr. Fredberg was a Financial Analyst and Controller with Raytheon/Amana Appliances. He earned his MBA with distinction from Northwestern University’s Kellogg Graduate School of Management and his BS in finance with distinction from the University of Iowa. Mr. Fredberg is a CMA (inactive). His experience began in 1994 and he joined Brandes Investment Partners in 1999.