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Oakmark Funds, advised by Harris Associates, released its “Oakmark International Fund” fourth quarter 2024 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. For the quarter ended December 31, 2024, the fund returned -8.48% compared to the MSCI World ex USA Index’s -7.43% return. Since its inception, the fund returned 8.19% compared to a 5.92% return for the index. Communication services contributed to the fund’s performance in the quarter while health care and financials detracted. In addition, you can check the fund’s top 5 holdings to determine its best picks for 2024.
Oakmark International Fund highlighted stocks like Bayer Aktiengesellschaft (OTC:BAYRY) in its Q4 2024 investor letter. Headquartered in Leverkusen, Germany, Bayer Aktiengesellschaft (OTC:BAYRY) is a life science company that operates through Crop Science, Pharmaceuticals, and Consumer Health segments. The one-month return of Bayer Aktiengesellschaft (OTC:BAYRY) was 0.36%, and its shares lost 43.93% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On January 14, 2025, Bayer Aktiengesellschaft (OTC:BAYRY) stock closed at $5.05 per share with a market capitalization of $20.162 billion.
Oakmark International Fund stated the following regarding Bayer Aktiengesellschaft (OTC:BAYRY) in its Q4 2024 investor letter:
"Bayer Aktiengesellschaft (OTC:BAYRY) was the top detractor during the quarter. The Germany-headquartered agriculture and pharma company’s stock price declined following developments in polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) litigation and soft preliminary 2025 guidance. In October, the Washington Supreme Court granted review for the plaintiff’s appeal of Bayer’s first win at appellate court in PCB. Bayer’s appellate win, if enforced, will result in existing cases being retried on different grounds, but the Washington Supreme Court review raises the risk that the win is overturned. We viewed the appellate win as helpful but not a skeleton key to litigation resolution, so the Washington Supreme Court development is only marginal to value. In November, Bayer issued preliminary 2025 guidance indicating that profits would likely decline. The seemingly implied decline in agriculture business profitability was particularly disappointing versus consensus. This was partially driven by temporary regulatory issues that we expect to resolve in the midterm, and the balance was driven by challenges in the crop protection portfolio. Bayer is now kicking off a deep restructuring of crop protection that we expect to help offset pressures and drive recovery. Overall, despite current headwinds, we believe that new CEO Bill Anderson’s restructuring and organizational change initiatives will unlock improved performance at Bayer and better capitalize on the potential of its well-positioned franchises. We are watching closely for confirmatory evidence of success as Bill’s strategy enters its second year."