From good stock

当Stryker公司的股份下跌19.3％，达到46.24美元，在矫形医疗器械制造商报告销售增长放缓后，投资组合管理人员大卫拉巴拉巴和埃里克联邦决定增加他们的立场。在他们的判断中，Stryker的销售衰退将是暂时的，因为Kalamazoo，密歇根州，公司被批量管理，完美地定位，因为世界各地的老龄化人口对其整形外科植入物的需求受益。他们对公司信心背后的另一个主要因素：Stryker氏族是一个大股东。

那是件好事儿吗？

For Larrabee and Feder it is. They co-manage the $83.3 million Constellation Pitcairn Family Heritage Fund, which invests exclusively in companies that boast significant family ownership (which the co-managers define as firms with a minimum of 10 percent of outstanding common stock owned by the founding family). In the case of Stryker, the family retains about 28 percent of the outstanding shares; Rhonda Stryker, a granddaughter of the founder, is on the board of directors and was once president of the company, which makes prostheses, implant systems, powered surgical instruments and endoscopic products.

一些投资者将家庭所有权与企业治理不足，不足的企业管制，缺点的管理和决策，因必要维持高股息支付而变得复杂。但是星座组合经理人确信家庭赌注随着股票表现而携手共进。“我们相信创始家庭的存在 - 以管理立场的形式，董事会或控股股权的席位 - 促进了高增长率和优越的回报率，”拉巴巴斯说。他争辩说，家庭成员的存在有助于培养长期的视角，并确保管理利益与股东保持一致。

这对Stryker来说显然是真的。星座首先在1996年购买了股票，售价6.20美元。它最近以47美元的价格交易。

"Family owners tend to know their businesses very well and be very passionate about them," says T. Brook Parker, a partner at Boston-based Lineage Capital, a private equity fund that invests in family-controlled businesses.

那些专注于美国家属公司的投资者将自己限制在一个相对较小的草皮中。只有600名市场价值超过2亿美元的公司，美国股票的股票5000指数是家庭控制。大约23％的公开交易U.K.公司是家庭拥有的。在大陆欧洲，这是一个不同的故事。据Vanderbilt University of Ganderbilt University的欧文研究生院管理助理管理局Mara Faccio助理管理局助理管理局助理管理局助理管理局局长，德国的投票权至少增加了20％的投票权的公司约有20％的投票权，大约65％，大约60％。在欧洲最高调的家庭控制的巨头中是宝马集团，L'Oréal集团和Roche Holding。

当然，拉巴巴和联邦人在家庭友好的人群中发现了一些良好的价值观。在12月31日止三年内，该基金的年度返回率平均为5.78％，而标准普尔500指数的3.53％，威尔希尔5000次为5.48％，该基金的基准。拉拉巴尼和联邦机构在私人账户中使用相同的方法，以便在1923年成立的Pitcairn金融集团的私人账户中的私人账户，以管理匹伦特纳匹兹堡玻璃公司联合创始人John Pitcairn的财富PPG产业。截至12月31日止十年，该战略返回年化13.04％，与标准普尔500指标12.05％，威尔希尔5000年的11.92％。

拉巴比和联邦人通过缩小家庭控制的美国公司列表，以至少2亿美元的市场资本化缩小为股票选择流程。采取自下而上的方法，他们寻找以合理的估值销售的公司，如历史上低廉的价格，价格到账面价值和价格到现金流量比例。他们还寻求差异化的产品或服务，历史高再投资率和卓越的增长前景。“我们试图确定允许公司维护其创新优势，高利润率和高于平均增长的因素，”拉巴巴巴解释道。

Before Pitcairn first implemented its Family Heritage strategy back in 1989, it studied 20 years of historical return data for the 132 family-controlled companies then included in the S&P 500. The analysis concluded that family-controlled businesses returned on average about 135 basis points per year more than the index. "It confirmed our suspicions that family-controlled firms outperform," Larrabee says.

最近的一些测试分析表明family-controlled companies plow cash back into the business at a higher rate than do nonfamily companies. The 600 family-controlled businesses in Pitcairn's universe reinvested between 75 and 80 percent of their 2003 earnings, while the average Wilshire 5000 company retained only about 60 percent.

David Reeb，寺院大学福克斯商学院财务副教授，以及美国大学Kogod业务学院的副教授罗纳德安德森，研究了标准普尔500点公司的创始 - 家庭控制和企业表演之间的关系从1992年到1999年。他们得出结论，家庭企业表现得更好，比非家庭控制公司更有价值 - 至少到一个人。“我们的调查结果表明，家庭控制的最佳水平为30％，”安德森解释道。“之后，益处开始下降。”

当然，并非所有专家都认为家庭所有权增加了价值。

Finance professors Belen Villalonga, of Harvard Business School, and Raphael Amit, of the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, studied the performance of U.S. Fortune 500 corporations between 1994 and 2000. They concluded that family ownership creates value only when the founder serves as the CEO or chairman. Villalonga and Amit also found that control mechanisms, including dual share classes, pyramids and voting agreements, reduce the founder's premium.

Larrabee and Feder are especially bullish on Troy, Michiganbased Flagstar Bancorp, a leading mortgage lender whose founding family owns one third of the outstanding stock. Thomas Hammond, who created the bank in 1987, is chairman of the board, and his son Marc is president and CEO. The Constellation Pitcairn Family Heritage fund bought the stock in August 2001 at about $8.25 a share. "Flagstar is one of the largest mortgage originators in the country," Feder says. "Its return on equity is the highest of any bank or thrift in the U.S. in the past five years." Like its rivals, Flagstar has benefited from tremendous growth in its mortgage business, driven by low interest rates. The stock, which was trading at $22.60 in late December, is taking a breather -- it was up just 5.5 percent for the year ended December 31 -- as rising interest rates cause mortgage refinancings to decrease. "We still like the company and consider it a core holding," Feder says, noting that the stock also boasts a 4.5 percent dividend yield.

Lance Helfert, president of Ventura, Californiabased West Coast Asset Management, is another investor with an affinity for family control. "We like companies with high levels of insider ownership and good managements that have been in place for a long time," he says. "These criteria often lead us to family-controlled firms."

West Coast Asset Management runs about $300 million for high-net-worth individuals. The firm tends to maintain highly concentrated stock portfolios. Of its current 14 equity holdings, five have a high level of family control. West Coast's family-controlled holdings include Arden Group, ATP Oil & Gas Corp. and Berkshire Hathaway, a holding company run and 37.2 percent owned by Warren Buffett -- which itself owns a large number of family-managed businesses, including Borsheim's Fine Jewelry, Fechheimer Brothers Co. and Nebraska Furniture Mart.

Helfert买了雅顿集团在2002年,当时selling at between $55 and $60 a share. The stock was trading at roughly $102 in late December. Arden owns Gelson's, a chain of 17 upscale grocery stores in Southern California. By offering superior customer service and high-quality products, the stores are able to charge premium prices, resulting in gross margins at least 50 percent higher than the industry average. Arden's chairman, president and chief executive officer, Bernard Briskin, owns about half of the outstanding common stock and has headed the company for more than 25 years.

Arden recently announced a special class-A stock dividend of $20 a share and a special class-B dividend of $18 a share. "The company made a very conservative and prudent decision to return the excess cash to shareholders," says Helfert. "The decision is in keeping with Briskin's long-term record of making decisions in the best interest of shareholders."