That recovery helped Oakmark investments such as luxury-car maker Daimler AG and Daiwa Securities Group Inc., Japan’s second-biggest brokerage.
The Oakmark fund gained an average of 9.4 percent annualized over five years and 17.7 percent for the year ended on Feb. 15.
The $5.3 billion Old Westbury Global Small & MidCap Fund shared the No. 1 spot in global equities, with an average five-year return of 9.3 percent.
Nygren, who focuses mainly on U.S. companies, and Herro, an international specialist, each contribute ideas to the Oakmark fund, which holds about 20 stocks. The fund had 16 percent of its money in bank stocks as of Dec. 31.
“We think this is still one of the cheapest sectors out there,” Nygren says.
Mortgage Bet
For bond fund managers, there was no more lucrative investment than the mortgage securities whose collapse brought the financial system to its knees in 2008.
Daniel Ivascyn, manager of the $25.2 billion Pimco Income Fund, had the best results in the U.S. bond category by investing in both mortgage-backed securities and bank loans.
The fund returned 12 percent a year for the past five years, outpacing the Barclays U.S. Aggregate Bond Index, which gained 5.6 percent annualized.
Ivascyn’s No.1 ranking also beat Bill Gross, his Pacific Investment Management Co. colleague, whose Total Return Fund averaged 7.72 percent during the period.