Davis Selected Advisers

Christopher Davis serves as Chairman and is the lead decision-maker across most equity strategies. He joined the firm in 1989 and has been the portfolio manager on Davis New York Venture Fund and Selected American Shares for decades. The research team also includes Andrew Davis, representing the family's third generation on the investment staff. The firm does not practice a star-analyst model; portfolio managers are directly responsible for stock selection and sizing.

The core equity strategies typically hold between 25 and 40 stock positions. Turnover runs well below industry averages, with the flagship fund often reporting annual turnover in the low teens — meaning the team holds most names for five to eight years or longer. This concentration reflects a high-conviction approach rather than a diversified benchmark-hugging strategy.

Financial services, particularly global banks and insurers, is historically the largest sector weight across Davis equity products. The firm believes well-capitalized financials trading below tangible book value can compound capital at attractive rates over time. Berkshire Hathaway, long a top holding, is the most visible example of the durable franchise the Davis team seeks.

It is a registered investment adviser managing public mutual funds and separate accounts — structurally a traditional asset manager. It behaves in some ways like a family partnership because a significant portion of the Davis family's personal wealth is invested alongside fund shareholders in the same vehicles, an alignment mechanism unusual among public-fund complexes.

The firm primarily invests through direct public-equity stock selection inside its own regulated funds. It does not operate a fund-of-funds or private-market allocation business. The only external commitments it makes are the publicly traded securities it buys in the open market — no LP commitments to outside venture capital or private equity managers.

Christopher Davis, the founder's son, runs the firm as Chairman and lead portfolio manager. Andrew Davis, Shelby Davis's grandson, works as a portfolio manager and research analyst on the equity team. The family collectively co-invests hundreds of millions of their own capital in the same funds offered to the public, maintaining a multi-generational presence on the investment floor.

The firm does not co-invest alongside external general partners in private deals. Its entire public-market franchise is built around independently sourced, internally researched public-company investments. The firm's closest analog to co-investment is the Davis family's practice of buying fund shares alongside their clients — aligning interests through the public vehicle structure rather than through side-by-side private vehicles.