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William Smead » Profile

William is the founder of Smead Capital Management, where he oversees all activities of the firm. As Chief Investment Officer he is responsible for all investment and portfolio decisions as well as reviewing the implementation of those decisions.

William began his career in the investment business with Drexel Burnham Lambert in 1980. He left Drexel Burham Lambert in 1989 as First Vice President/Assistant Manager and joined Oppenheimer & Co. William left Oppenheimer & Co. and joined Smith Barney in 1990 and became a register investment adviser in 1993. He was with Smith Barney until September 2001 when he joined Wachovia Securities and became the Managing Director/Portfolio Manager of Smead Investment Group of Wachovia Securities. William was with Wachovia Securities until the founding of Smead Capital Management in July 2007.

Bill is the Lead Portfolio Manager on SCM's large cap portfolios as well as the firm's proprietary mutual fund.

William Smead's Company

Smead Capital Management Smead Capital Management (SCM) is a value-oriented investment management firm based out of Seattle, WA. SCM was founded by William Smead in 2007 after he had managed money for over 14 years at predecessor firms. SCM currently focuses on managing large capitalization separate accounts as well as a proprietary mutual fund.

The portfolio management process is defined by SCM's Eight Invesment Criteria:
1) Strong Balance Sheet – Preferably more cash than debt or the ability to pay off debt in two years out of free cash flow
2) Long History of Profits and Dividends (or stock buybacks)
3) History of Shareholder Friendliness - Making shareholder friendly choices with available capital
4) Strong Insider Ownership (preferably with recent purchases)
5) Easy to Understand – Business meets a sustainable economic need
6) High levels of free cash flow
7) Strong Moat – High levels of profitability maintained by barriers to entry
8) Low Price-to-Earnings Ratio (or price-to-sales/cash flow/book value) in comparison to the last five years
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