Ryan Matthew Nixon

Hester Capital Management is a value manager that offers manages equity, fixed-income and balanced portfolios. The firm seeks to construct portfolios that provide stable income and higher dividend growth than the market averages. They focus on purchasing securities that are trading at discounts to their inherent value given their growth potential. HCM avoids risk by focusing on companies with stable growth, high returns on capital and strong balance sheets. HCM's equity investment approach seeks to realize an attractive total return from a well-diversified multi-cap portfolio of growth and income common stocks. The firm purchases shares in companies when they are trading at a significant discount to the company's underlying value. They seek to reduce risk by emphasizing fundamental analysis and investing in high quality financially secure companies with strong balance sheets and ample free cash flow. HCM looks for positive future change in investment expectations by investing in shares when expectations are low. Of the 200 to 300 companies that meet their initial criteria, no more than 50 stocks are included in client portfolios. HCM's bottom-up selection process focuses on companies whose fundamentals indicate improving trends in operating margins, profitability and earnings. Though not limited by sector, HCM tends to invest in the stocks of mid-cap and large-cap companies in the technology services, consumer non-durables and producer manufacturing sectors. They invest mainly in the US, Europe, Latin America and Asia. HCM maintains a very low turnover rate. HCM's fixed-income approach seeks to build portfolios that provide more income and less volatility than those consisting solely of common stocks. The firm's fixed-income strategy seeks to (1) to reserve capital (2) maximize cash flow and (3) earn a real inflation-adjusted rate of return over a full interest rate cycle. To select bonds, HCM employs the same fundamental and technical analysis that they use in their equity investment approach. They constantly analyze the yield curve to determine their outlook for interest rates. HCM looks for the most attractive positions along the yield curve without injecting undue risk or volatility into the portfolio. They examine various sectors of the bond market, along with specific issues, which appear to be undervalued. HCM adds value to bond portfolios by positioning for changes in fundamentals or investor psychology that will be the catalyst to provide superior returns. They also add value by using tax-exempt bonds in a portfolio when they offer the potential to produce a higher after-tax return, or if the client is subject to a high tax rate.

Functions as a College/University

Nixon Capital uses a long-only value strategy to invest in equity securities of public companies for SMAs, while utilizes a long/short, opportunistic value strategy to invest in equity, debt, and derivative securities around the globe for the Fund. The firm employs a fundamental analytical approach to security analysis, continually conducting quantitative and qualitative analysis.