Herro, de Vaulx Still Like Japan

A pair of top fund managers say the deadly earthquake in Japan isn’t shaking their bullishness on Japanese stocks.

“Our view on Japan is still the same,” David Herro, one of Morningstar’s fund managers of the decade, told Bloomberg. “When you look at the valuation of Japanese companies, if you look at what’s happening with Japanese managements in terms of improving operating efficiency, we’re still excited about the Japanese equity market.”

Another top value manager, Charles de Vaulx, had similar thoughts. “The purely economic consequences will be modest: some reconstruction, some more government spending,” he told Bloomberg. “No major international consequences, either, except maybe helping drive long-term rates higher. We do not expect to make any significant changes to our portfolio as a result of this tragedy.”

Herro said that further drops in the Japanese market could have him buying more shares. “If this causes market values to go substantially lower, we’ll use this as an opportunity to buy quality at lower price,” he said. “Very little of this will ultimately impact the long-term price of the companies we own.”

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