Oakmark Funds, advised by Harris Associates, released its “Oakmark International Fund” first quarter 2025 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. For the quarter ended March 31, 2025, the fund’s Investor Share Class returned 7.88% compared to the MSCI World ex USA Index’s 6.20% return. Since its inception, the fund returned 8.37% compared to a 6.07% return for the index. Financials and health care sector contributed to the fund’s performance in the quarter, while communication services and information technology detracted. In addition, you can check the fund’s top 5 holdings to determine its best picks for 2025.
In its first-quarter 2025 investor letter, Oakmark International Fund highlighted stocks such as WPP plc (NYSE:WPP). WPP plc (NYSE:WPP) is a creative transformation company. The one-month return of WPP plc (NYSE:WPP) was -12.05%, and its shares lost 25.77% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On April 16, 2025, WPP plc (NYSE:WPP) stock closed at $35.46 per share with a market capitalization of $7.873 billion.
Oakmark International Fund stated the following regarding WPP plc (NYSE:WPP) in its Q1 2025 investor letter:
“WPP plc (NYSE:WPP) was the top detractor during the quarter. The U.K.-headquartered advertising company’s stock price declined after it delivered weaker than expected fourth-quarter 2024 results and 2025 guidance. The results were impacted by client losses, disruptions from restructuring activity, and pullback in more discretionary client spending. Despite the headwinds, margins and free cash flow (FCF) remained resilient. While the economic environment remains uncertain, management believes WPP’s growth should start to recover in the back half of 2025, and their FCF generation should rebound as restructuring activities fade. While the past year has been a tough one for WPP, we continue to believe expected fourth-quarter 2024 results and 2025 guidance. The results were impacted by client losses, disruptions from restructuring activity, and pullback in more discretionary client spending. Despite the headwinds, margins and free cash flow (FCF) remained resilient. While the economic environment remains uncertain, management believes WPP’s growth should start to recover in the back half of 2025, and their FCF generation should rebound as restructuring activities fade. While the past year has been a tough one for WPP, we continue to believe the business can deliver low single-digit growth and much improved FCF. WPP can also monetize equity assets like Kantar for material amounts. We continue to think the discounted valuation overly discounts the company’s fundamental value.”
