Stewart Investment Partners is an investment management firm based in Saint Paul, Minnesota. Founded in 1980, the company provides investment advisory services to high net worth individuals, endowments, foundations and other institutional clients. With over 40 years of experience, Stewart Investment Partners has developed expertise in constructing diversified investment portfolios using equities, fixed income and alternative investments. This article will provide an in-depth analysis of Stewart Investment Partners’ investment philosophies, strategies and track record of performance over the years. Special focus will be placed on examining the factors behind the success of the firm’s flagship Stewart Growth Equity Fund.
Stewart Investment Partners utilizes a long-term, bottom-up investment approach focused on high-quality companies
Stewart Investment Partners describes its investment approach as Long Term Quality Growth. The firm looks to invest in high-quality companies that can grow intrinsic value over long time horizons. Stewart Investment Partners focuses on understanding the fundamentals of each company through in-depth proprietary research and analysis of financial metrics as well as management quality. The firm favors companies with durable competitive advantages, consistent growth, high returns on capital and strong free cash flow generation. Stewart Investment Partners constructs concentrated portfolios, usually holding 20-30 stocks. The long-term perspective allows the firm’s portfolio managers to look beyond short-term market volatility and focus on a company’s long-term earnings potential.
The Stewart Growth Equity Fund has delivered strong long-term performance through focus on quality
The Stewart Growth Equity Fund is the firm’s flagship investment strategy, launched in 1980. The fund invests in common stocks of U.S. companies across all market capitalization ranges. Through its quality growth approach, the fund has compiled an impressive long-term track record, outperforming its benchmark Russell 3000 Growth Index over the last 1, 3, 5, 10, 15 and 20 year periods. According to investment researcher Morningstar, the fund’s 10-year annualized return of 16.03% through December 2022 placed it among the top 3% of large growth category funds. The fund has succeeded over multiple market cycles by sticking to its philosophy of owning a concentrated portfolio of high-quality growth companies trading at attractive valuations.
Stewart Investment Partners leverages its size and culture to maintain excellence
Despite managing over $3 billion in client assets, Stewart Investment Partners has remained a lean organization, with a tight-knit culture focused on investment excellence. Led by founding partners John Mueller and Jim Coppedge, the firm has retained its founding mission and principles around integrity, transparency and alignment of interests with clients. There is very little turnover among the firm’s team of experienced analysts and portfolio managers, enabling continuous learning and improvement. The firm’s smaller size also allows it to invest in small and mid-cap companies often overlooked by larger asset managers. Overall, Stewart Investment Partners’ time-tested investment philosophy centered around quality growth companies, coupled with its strong culture and talented team has enabled the firm to deliver consistent outperformance over multiple decades.
In summary, Stewart Investment Partners utilizes a long-term, high quality growth investment strategy that has successfully generated strong returns over 40+ years. By focusing on shareholder-friendly companies with durable competitive advantages, the firm’s flagship Stewart Growth Equity Fund has consistently outperformed benchmarks across market cycles.