Investment Philosophy
Our philosophy is to preserve and enhance the purchasing power of our clients' capital over time. Asset allocation is critical to the success of each portfolio and contributes to long term investment results.
We believe that common stock ownership provides the best opportunity for investors to achieve solid long term results. We seek to achieve superior long term results by purchasing stocks of growing, financially sound companies at a discount to our assessment of their intrinsic value. This active style of asset management is most often categorized as Value or GARP (Growth At a Reasonable Price).
Appropriate, well-researched fixed income securities and Master Limited Partnership units are used to produce income while reducing volatility.
Investment Process
Equities
We seek high quality domestic and international companies with characteristics that include superior earnings growth potential, moderate and declining debt levels, global competitive advantages within growing markets, free cash flow, and above average return on equity. We also use research data provided directly by investment firms and the results of fundamental in-house analyses based on a plethora of sources, including the internet, magazines, newspapers, journals, brokerages, federal government publications, and corporate releases. We also monitor corporate insider activities.
After Westbourne identifies superior companies, we seek to purchase and hold their securities for extended time periods -- often three to five years. It is our belief that this buy and hold strategy usually outperforms attempts to time the market. Besides reducing asset turnover, this strategy also typically lowers income tax liability. Some portfolio rebalancing does occur, but turnover in client accounts (usually less than 30% annually) is low by industry standards.
Fixed Income
Westbourne purchases high quality bonds and exchange traded fixed income securities to provide balance for client portfolios and to generate current income. Maturities for fixed income investments rarely exceed five years. Westbourne also buys carefully selected income-oriented equities, including Master Limited Partnerships, Real Estate Investment trusts, and royalty trusts. A number of these alternative income investments have tax advantages that enhance income returns while providing useful portfolio diversification.
