Firm Overview

Hardman Johnston is a concentrated international equity boutique manager founded in 1985 and located in Stamford, CT. The firm is 100% employee-owned.  As of December 31, 2020, Hardman Johnston managed over $9.5 billion in assets. Their flagship strategy is the International Growth strategy which has been continuously managed by Cassandra Hardman (CIO International & Global Strategies, CEO) since 1997.  This strategy is available via a separately managed account, commingled vehicle or mutual fund.  Cassandra is supported by two Portfolio Managers who are both shareholders of the firm, and four Research Analysts. Philosophically, the investment process is driven by the belief that over the long-term fundamentals drive market performance (specifically earnings growth), but that in the short-term markets can be driven by emotion, presenting attractive entry points for fundamentally sound companies.

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Product Overview

The Hardman Johnston International Growth strategy is a concentrated portfolio built from the bottom-up and based on deep fundamental research.  The team operates as growth investors when researching companies, but value investors when buying them.  The strategy is designed to identify companies with a minimum forward-looking secular EPS growth rate of 10% per annum, with market leadership in their sector, high quality earnings and attractive valuations.  The portfolio consists of 25-30 international developed market and emerging market growth companies subject to exposure constraints for risk control.  Portfolio construction applies diversification constraints to manage concentration risk within industries, countries, and single securities.  The outcome is a best ideas, risk aware, high conviction portfolio with low turnover and high active share.  This investment philosophy has led to outperformance during more normalized environments when earnings growth drives performance, during market downturns when quality, valuation and stability of earnings are often a safe haven for investors and during the subsequent recovery when market leaders take share and can maintain pricing power.  The strategy can be used as both the growth satellite within an international equity structure or as the primary manager within a portfolio’s international equity allocation.

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What We Like About Them

Independence and Continuity – the Firm is committed to remaining independent and is 100% employee owned.  Cassandra Hardman, the lead PM and CIO of International & Global Strategies, is the firm’s majority shareholder and has been managing the strategy across numerous market cycles since 1997.

Concentrated portfolio with secular growth trends – while the investment team is not thematic in their approach, the fundamental research process leads them to companies levered to many of the transformative growth trends in the world.

Consistent return pattern with low turnover – the focus on high quality, market leading companies with insulated earnings and attractive relative valuation has produced strong downside protection and accelerated upside participation during market recoveries where we have seen leading niche companies gain market share from weaker competitors.  The team is patient and deliberate in their approach with long-term holding periods.

Contact Information

If you would like to learn more about Hardman Johnston, call Dan DiDomenico at (610) 937-5211 or email Dan at dan@dakota.com.