When it comes to the rock stars of the stock market, there is of course one name that cannot be ignored: Warren Buffett. There is nothing that could possibly be written about the “Oracle of Omaha”, the pioneer of value investing, that has not already been written, so why waste space even trying? Nevertheless, the man has already been in the business with his investment firm, Berkshire Hathaway, for more than 60 years, over which time he has delivered an average annual return of almost 20% to his investors. Nothing more needs to be said.
Anyone wanting to know what shares investment companies such as Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway or Burry’s Scion Asset Management have in their portfolios, or what holdings they have bought and sold, does not need to turn detective or spy. That's because institutional investment managers in the USA whose assets under management exceed USDmn 100 are obliged to submit a quarterly report to the US supervisory authorities, the SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission). This “SEC Form F13”, which is accessible to the public, lists all holdings in the portfolio along with the number of shares and the volume. It can, for instance, reveal that the largest holding in Berkshire Hathaway’s portfolio on 30 June 2023 was Apple, in which it held 91,600 shares with a volume of almost USDbn 178. A comparison with the F13 reports of the previous quarter thus indicates where holdings are built up or reduced, opened or closed or left unchanged.
The two financial professionals, Leonteq and Swissquote, see this duty of disclosure as an exciting opportunity to profit from the know-how and talent of well-known value investors, which is why they are issuing a participation certificate in the Swissquote Value Rockstars Index. The F13 reports of the investment managers play a central role in the selection process for the index. Seen overall, they give an indication of which stocks are particularly strongly represented in the portfolios of the value investors. This information is used as a basis for determining the 30 shares that go to make up the index as well as their relative weighting.
This process is actively controlled, which means that the index is reviewed on a regular basis and adjusted where necessary, ensuring that the composition of the most in-demand value stocks is always up-to-date. The participation certificate participates one-to-one in the performance of the index. The certificate has no fixed term either, an important aspect given that the benefits of value strategies generally only come to the fore over the long term.
We look forward to answering all of your questions about our products and how they are traded. Please don't hesitate to get in touch! Phone: 058 800 11 11, email info@leonteq.com or contact us here.