What Makes Dodge & Cox Stock an Excellent Fund

Key Morningstar Metrics for Dodge & Cox Stock

• Morningstar Medalist Rating: Gold
• Process Pillar: High
• People Pillar: High
• Parent Pillar: High

Exceptional personnel and a proven, faithfully followed approach earn high marks for Dodge & Cox Stock DODGX.

The fund has enviable personnel. Six veteran investors serve on the US equity investment committee that manages the fund, including Chief Investment Officer David Hoeft and Director of Research Steven Voorhis. Its collectivized decision-making helps Dodge & Cox Stock weather departures, even if they’re somewhat surprising. While most committee changes are announced well in advance, the resignation of Karol Marcin at the end of 2024 wasn’t. Yet, the committee’s depth and collaboration took the sting out of his departure, as they did when others left in the past. Behind the committee stands an impressive unit of global industry analysts whose extensive research is key to this fund.

The process requires expert hands such as these. Dodge & Cox Stock seeks an edge on out-of-favor, cheap stocks. Analysts scrutinize companies’ competitive strengths, growth opportunities, and leadership. They discuss firms’ merits first in specialized sector committees; promising prospects then go before the investment committee. The managers try to take advantage of what they believe are temporary troubles to buy and add to these stocks.

Such an approach is risky. Dodge & Cox has improved its risk management in recent years, however, building tools to better understand portfolio traits and risks facing its holdings. Even so, the fund’s returns are typically quite lumpy over short periods, but the managers’ calm conviction and the analysts’ vigilance often turn that volatility to investors’ advantage over time. Dodge & Cox Stock has an impressive long-term record.

Dodge & Cox Stock: Performance Highlights

From longest-tenured manager David Hoeft’s January 2002 start through September 2025, the fund’s I share class gained 9.6% annualized. That beat 97.0% of peers in its large-value Morningstar Category as well as the 8.2% gain of the Russell 1000 Value category index. Returns can be lumpy, though, given the managers’ willingness to invest in unloved companies that might need time to gain traction.

Keeping that in mind, Dodge & Cox Stock’s fair showing so far in 2025 isn’t anything to worry about. Its 10.9% gain through September slightly lagged both the typical peer and the index. The managers did well with many financials stocks, including brokerage firm Charles Schwab SCHW and the world’s largest asset custodian, Bank of New York Mellon BK. The fund has owned each for more than 15 years. On the other hand, financial technology company Fiserv FI has had a rough year. The stock had been a winner since the managers first bought it in 2020, but in 2025, it has struggled amidst a worrisome macroeconomic environment. True to form, the Dodge & Cox team hasn’t shied away. In fact, it added significantly to its Fiserv position in the third quarter, putting it in the fund’s top five holdings--just before the stock sold off sharply in late October. Such contrarian moves, while not always successful, are often key to Dodge & Cox Stock’s success over time.