Charles Brandes founded Brandes in 1974. Following a meeting with Benjamin Graham, widely considered the father of value investing, Mr. Brandes became a student of the value investment philosophy. When the bear market of 1973-1974 created attractive long-term opportunities for disciplined, patient investors, Mr. Brandes decided it was time to launch his own firm. Since then, the company has remained independent, and has applied a bottom-up, Graham and Dodd, value investment philosophy and process consistently across numerous investment strategies.
Brandes has achieved notable milestones throughout our history, as noted in the Timeline below.
* Past performance is not a guarantee of future results. It is not possible to invest directly in an index. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is an unmanaged, price-weighted index of 30 blue chip U.S. stocks. The DJIA was created by Charles Dow in 1896 as a general measure of the stock market, and today is compiled by editors of The Wall Street Journal. With over a hundred years of data behind it, the DJIA still serves as a reliable U.S. market’s measure. This index captures price movements of the securities.
BusinessWeek magazine declared “The Death of Equities” as the prime rate headed to a high of 21.50% in December 1980.
* Past performance is not a guarantee of future results. It is not possible to invest directly in an index. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is an unmanaged, price-weighted index of 30 blue chip U.S. stocks. The DJIA was created by Charles Dow in 1896 as a general measure of the stock market, and today is compiled by editors of The Wall Street Journal. With over a hundred years of data behind it, the DJIA still serves as a reliable U.S. market’s measure. This index captures price movements of the securities.
- President Reagan, 1987
On October 3, 1990, the formal reunification of East and West Germany signified the dawn of larger markets and the beginning of globalization.
Public call for transparency and better standard of living led to the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 and the end of the Cold War.
Brandes remained unnerved as Mexican Peso’s devaluation scared many investors. Then and now, we believe not all companies are affected by macroeconomic events in the same way.
The establishment of the WTO paved the way for international trade expansion and globalization.
CalPERS* reached $100 billion in assets as baby boomers started thinking more about retirement.
*California Public Employees Retirement System, manager of the biggest public pension fund in the United States.
The 1997 Asian financial crisis sent many emerging economies into a deep dive. Despite emerging markets’ numerous transformations since then, many investors still fear a potential replay of this crisis.
The dot-com bubble led the NASDAQ* Composite Index to almost quadruple between 1997 and 2000 – before ending in the "tech wreck".
*Past performance is not a guarantee of future results. It is not possible to invest directly in an index. The NASDAQ Composite Index is an unmanaged, broad based market capitalization-weighted index that measures all NASDAQ domestic and international based common type stocks listed on the NASDAQ market. This index captures price movements of the securities.
Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay struggled as economic crisis hit. Brandes took this opportunity to invest in out-of-favor businesses in the region.
Major downturns in stock markets shocked investors worldwide and led to the collapse or sale of several large financial institutions. The S&P 500 Index* fell over 56% from October 2007 to March 2009 (peak to trough).
*Past performance is not a guarantee of future results. It is not possible to invest directly in an index. The S&P 500 Index with gross dividends is an unmanaged, market-capitalization weighted index that measures the equity performance of 500 leading companies in leading industries of the U.S. economy. The index includes 500 leading companies in leading industries of the U.S. economy, capturing 80% coverage of U.S. equities. This index includes dividends and distributions, but does not reflect fees, brokerage commissions, withholding taxes or other expenses of investing.
The European Central Bank announced in 2012 to do “whatever it takes” to preserve the euro zone.
*Source: Institutional Investor; rank was for 12 months ended June 30, 2012. Click here for full article.
Speculation on the U.S. Federal Reserve’s tapering plan affected international equity markets, especially emerging markets. At the end of 2013, valuations for the MSCI EM Index* were near pre-2008 crisis levels.
*Past performance is not a guarantee of future results. It is not possible to invest directly in an index. The MSCI Emerging Markets Index with gross dividends measures equity market performance of emerging markets. MSCI has not approved, reviewed or produced this report, makes no express or implied warranties or representations and is not liable whatsoever for any data in the report. You may not redistribute the MSCI data or use it as a basis for other indices or investment products.
The significant drop in oil price toward the end of 2014 sparked investor concerns about the prospects of companies in the energy sector.
A supply glut continued to weigh on the oil market.
About 52% of U.K. voters favored Brexit, a referendum for the United Kingdom to leave the European Union.
The Trump administration imposed tariffs on a variety of Chinese imports, triggering a trade dispute between China and the United States.
Brandes headquarters moved to La Jolla, California.
Coronavirus Pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, lasted the entire year. This ongoing global pandemic had an economic impact on industries and the markets.
Brandes started offering ETFs
Artificial Intelligence
OpenAI released GPT-4, an upgraded version of their artificial intelligence chatbot.
Brandes celebrated its 50-year anniversary, reaffirming its dedication to clients and the principles of value investing.
Olympics
Paris, France, will host the 2024 Summer Olympics Games. It will be the first Olympic Games fully aligned with the Paris Climate Agreement, aiming to reduce its carbon footprint by 55 percent.