The prince of value

Christopher Browne traces his investing approach directly back to Warren Buffett's guru, Ben Graham. Guess what? It still works.

NEW YORK (Money Magazine) -- If there's such a thing as an aristocracy of American investing, Christopher Browne is a full member.
He's one of five managing directors of Tweedy Browne, a firm co-founded by his father, who brokered stock trades for Benjamin Graham, the creator of modern securities analysis.
Later, when Graham's most illustrious pupil, Warren Buffett, wanted to take a controlling interest in a then sleepy textile company called Berkshire Hathaway, Tweedy Browne bought the stock.
Given this lineage, it's hardly a surprise that Browne would become a spokesman for Graham's and Buffett's investing philosophy.
Tweedy Browne's three mutual funds are pure examples of value investing - buying out-of-favor stocks on the cheap - and Browne has written what may be the most easily digested book on the topic, "The Little Book of Value Investing."
Even Browne was surprised, however, when his approach led to a confrontation with one of the richest men in Canada. Tweedy Browne's value-hunting research into Canadian publisher Hollinger eventually led to the conviction this past July of its chairman, Lord Conrad Black, on mail fraud and other charges. (Black plans to appeal.)
Graham's buy-cheap discipline kept value funds, including Tweedy Browne's, out of tech stocks during the dotcom bubble; and while value funds have lagged lately, they still have the best five-year return of the major investing styles.