投资选股首选消费品牌

    “你懂DRAM电脑芯片吗？”现年56岁、精力超级旺盛的拉索在曼哈顿中城的早餐桌上问道，“我可搞不了这些。我能搞懂的是一点点苏格兰威士忌——这就是我买的！”

    有这样想法的可不止拉索一个。有一群共同基金经理们可谓是“品牌使徒”，他们是Yacktman Funds的唐•亚克曼、共同管理Tweedy Browne Global Value的威尔•布朗、Wintergreen Fund的戴维•温特斯和管理其同名基金的杰夫•奥克谢。他们通过购买消费品牌公司的股票，全都创下了出色的长期回报率。

    这些老道的投资者们表示，在今天这个摇摆不定的市场中，品牌或许是最笃定的投资。不妨将它们视为乌龟股：不会让你一夜暴富（也不能在下次鸡尾酒晚宴上抛出什么联合利华的南非新工厂，引来众多听客）。但这些股票会一点一点向前，稳定的复合增长率和股息再投资奠定了卓越的回报率。

    一流的品牌受益于强大的长期优势。它们拥有足以克服通胀的定价力。比如，宝洁（Procer & Gamble）能上调Old Spice男士香氛的价格，是因为很多客户事实上已将该品牌视为终身的选择。品牌差一些的防汗剂就无法获得这样的忠诚度。其次，这些知名企业吸引了一些全球最出色的经理人。几十年来，雀巢雇佣最优秀的人才以稳坐全球食品巨头宝座。

    也许，现在购入消费品牌股票最有力的理由还包括全球覆盖力：这些公司进入如今蓬勃发展的新兴市场已有几十年时间。今天，它们正在受益于新富起来的消费者们对西方品牌的推崇。

    当然，投资这些蓝筹公司称不上什么秘密。已有很多投资者也涌入了防御性的派息股——往往也是拥有大品牌的公司——这推高了许多股票的价格。Capital IQ的数据显示，如今它们较标准普尔指数溢价20%。即便是高回报率股票在某个时刻也可能过于昂贵。因此，让我们来问问品牌使徒们，今天这类股票中哪些最具价值。

    唐•亚克曼表示，购买品牌股票的最有利时机通常是一家公司出现问题，导致股价短暂下跌时。亚克曼的公司目前资产管理规模为170亿美元，但70岁的他依然节俭。近日在他几无装饰的奥斯汀办公室里，他身穿Dockers卡其裤，手戴一只有年头的天美时（Timex）手表。他坚持让他的投资组合经理们自带咖啡来上班。但亚克曼的价值眼光和耐心等待已获回报：2000年以来，旗舰Yacktman基金的年均回报率为11.8%（标准普尔指数为1.5%）。“你持有的公司越好，”他说，“就得越耐心。因为它们最终都会走出低谷。”.

    "You know DRAM computer chips?" asks Russo, a hyperenergetic 56-year-old, over breakfast in Midtown Manhattan. "I can't deal with those. What I do understand is a dram of Scotch whisky -- that's something I get!"

    Russo isn't alone. There's a coterie of mutual fund managers who could be called the "brand apostles": Don Yacktman of the Yacktman Funds; Will Browne, who co-manages Tweedy Browne Global Value; David Winters of the Wintergreen Fund; and Jeff Auxier, who runs his own eponymous fund. Each has built a stellar long-term record by buying the shares of consumer brand companies.

    These veteran investors say brands just might be the best bets in today's schizophrenic market. Think of them as tortoise stocks: They won't produce overnight riches (and you probably won't captivate guests at your next cocktail party by holding forth on Unilever's new plant in South Africa). But little by little, these stocks inch their way forward, and the effects of steady compounding and reinvested dividends add up to winning returns.

    The best brands benefit from potent long-term advantages. They enjoy pricing power to overcome inflation. Procter & Gamble (PR), for example, can hike prices of Old Spice deodorant because many customers make what is in effect a lifetime commitment to the product. Lesser anti-perspirants can't muster that kind of loyalty. Second, these established companies attract some of the world's best managers. Nestlé has hired the brightest recruits for decades by maintaining its position as a global food powerhouse.

    Perhaps the most compelling reason to buy consumer brand stocks today is global reach: These companies have been doing business in now-booming emerging markets for decades. Today they're reaping the rewards of newly affluent consumers who are lusting for Western brands.

    Of course, these blue-chip companies aren't exactly secrets. Investors have been piling into defensive, dividend-paying stocks -- often companies with big, steady brands -- thereby raising the price of many of them. Today they trade at a 20% premium to the S&P, according to Capital IQ. Even a sterling performer can be too expensive at a given moment. So we asked the brand apostles where the best values in the category can be found today.

    The most advantageous time to buy brand stocks is usually when the company trips up and the price is briefly pummeled, says Don Yacktman, whose company manages $17 billion. At 70, Yacktman remains frugal. In his sparsely decorated Austin offices on a recent day, he wears Dockers khakis and a weathered Timex watch. He insists that his portfolio managers bring their own coffee to work. But Yacktman's eye for value and his willingness to wait until a stock is priced right has paid off: The flagship Yacktman fund (YACKX) has returned 11.8% per year since the turn of the millennium (vs. 1.5% for the S&P). "The better the businesses you own," he says, "the more patient you can be. Because eventually they're going to come out of it."