28 Oct 2010 Barron's - Talking With John D. Spears Managing Director Tweedy Browne Global Value Fund ( Portfolio )
Today, the 62-year-old is part of a four man management team that includes William Browne, 65, Thomas Shrager, 53, and Bob Wyckoff, 57. They are all devoted to Benjamin Graham’s value-investing principles. If they can’t find real bargains, they will close the fund, as they did in 2005. (They reopened it in 2008.) Global Value will invest in just about any market-cap, but currently is weighted toward large-caps.

A typical by-the-numbers investment is little-followed Tomen Electronics (7558.Japan), a micro-cap semiconductor company, which turns over its inventory eight times a month. “You can buy this whole company and get back your money from income in just 3.6 years,” say Spears. “If you take the current assets alone, that can be converted to cash in one year, after subtracting all liabilities; then, if you divide it by the number of shares, you get 1,775 yen per share,” says Spears. The stock currently trades for 958 yen.

Global Value’s largest current holdings, however, are big, liquid stocks with strong franchises that pay dividends. Among them: Smirnoff vodka maker Diageo, Heineken Holding and the Swiss food company, Nestle.