After graduating from Harvard Business School, Donald Yacktman began his investment career in 1968 at Stein Roe and Farnham. After 14 years as a portfolio manager, he left to go to Vincent Chesley's firm. He was so successful that he got Morningstar’s award best portfolio manager 1991.
Yacktman founded the company Yacktman Asset Management in 1992 and his son Stephen joined a year later. Since then his son has increasingly taken on responsibility for managing it. In 1999 they became equal partners in the company. Their strategy is to look for stocks that are sustainable for a very long time, they call it "Risk Adjusted Forward Returns". They look at the growth rate, profitability, and reinvestment rates to determine probabilities for future returns.
Donald Yacktman’s investment portfolio emphasizes long-term, high-quality stocks with durable business models, strong capital allocation, and broad market leadership. In his stock investments, the top holdings include:
1. Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. — An energy investment positioned to benefit from commodity cycle resilience, cash-flow generation, and disciplined resource development within the energy stocks sector.
2. Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (Ordinary Shares, Class B) — A diversified conglomerate investment reflecting a preference for durable compounding, disciplined underwriting-style capital allocation, and exposure to multiple industries through a single holding.
3. Microsoft Corporation — A technology investment aligned with sustained software and cloud platform strength, recurring revenue characteristics, and scalable growth—consistent with a conviction-driven approach to leading stocks.
4. Charles Schwab Corp. — A financial services investment tied to brokerage and wealth management trends, benefiting from customer growth, asset retention, and operating leverage in modern market participation.
5. Alphabet Inc. (Ordinary Shares, Class C) — A technology and advertising platform investment focused on resilient monetization, innovation-driven product expansion, and long-term competitive advantages in growth stocks.
Overall, this portfolio concentration highlights Yacktman’s market approach: select core investment positions in established leaders, favoring quality, durability, and compounding potential across sectors.
