Billionaire Terry Smith, "the English Warren Buffett," Has 31% of His Hedge Fund's Portfolio Invested in 3 Exceptional Stocks
These longtime Fundsmith holdings are still great buys today.
If you read Fundsmith's Owner's Manual, the influence of Warren Buffett on Terry Smith's hedge fund is plainly obvious. Smith references the Oracle of Omaha's wisdom and Berkshire Hathaway's success no fewer than six times in the 17-page document.
Smith has received the nickname "the English Warren Buffett" because his investment style echoes that of the great American investor. Smith follows a simple formula for buying and holding great companies. He's simply looking for "a good company with good products or services, strong market share, good profitability, cash flow and product development."
Like Buffett, he's also not shy about sharing his fund's historic performance. At the top of each annual letter to shareholders, Smith shows the fund's annual and cumulative performance since its inception in 2010. Through 2024, the fund has returned 607.3% for investors. His benchmark index, the MSCI World Index, has returned a total of 403.4%. While it might not be quite as impressive as Buffett's massive outperformance of the S&P 500 during his 60 years at Berkshire Hathaway, it's still quite impressive considering Fundsmith's growing size.
