Footprints Asset Management & Research

Footprints uses a concentrated, owner's-earnings approach that treats public stocks like private businesses. The firm targets companies with durable competitive advantages that generate high returns on tangible capital, buying during temporary dislocations. Holding periods stretch well beyond the industry average — low turnover and high conviction define the portfolio.

Brian Yacktman is the son of Don Yacktman, founder of Yacktman Asset Management and a widely followed value investor. The younger Yacktman absorbed the same high-quality, long-horizon philosophy but applied it to smaller-cap companies. Footprints operates independently from the Yacktman franchise, with no shared parent or pooled economics, but the analytical DNA — emphasis on owner's earnings, capital returns, and management alignment — is a direct intellectual descendent of that tradition.

The firm soft-closed the Footprints Discover Value Fund when the strategy approached its capacity limit, a discipline designed to protect existing investors from the performance drag of deploying too much capital into small- and mid-cap markets. In May 2024, Footprints re-opened the fund, indicating that the opportunity set had expanded and onerous capacity constraints had eased. The move is consistent with a shop that has used gates sparingly and deliberately over two decades.

Footprints invests across small-, mid-, and occasionally micro-cap companies, generally targeting businesses with market capitalizations below $10 billion. The portfolio typically holds 20 to 35 names drawn from a universe the firm believes is underfollowed by larger institutional managers and where temporary earnings disappointments or sector disfavor create price-value gaps.

Yes. Footprints manages separate accounts alongside its two mutual funds, executing the same concentrated, low-turnover equity strategy across all vehicles. The separate account platform serves institutional and high-net-worth clients seeking direct portfolio ownership rather than pooled fund exposure.

Idea generation is rooted in behavioral filtering — the team screens for companies hit by short-term earnings misses, sector rotation, or regulatory noise that obscures durable business quality. The research process relies on fundamental analysis of financial statements, management track records, and industry structures rather than sell-side research or macroeconomic calls.

No. The two firms are legally and economically separate entities with no shared parent, overlapping ownership, or pooled investment resources. Brian Yacktman founded Footprints independently in 2004, and the firm has operated from Omaha with its own team, research process, and fund lineup since inception. The connection is philosophical and intellectual, not structural.