Peter James Boyle

Clifford believes fundamental research can identify leading companies with increasing internal rates of return on invested capital. For equities, they concentrate their research on companies with businesses offering the greatest opportunity for real growth in cash flow and consistent earnings that are insulated from the business cycle. They focus on companies with the following characteristics: superior management, strong financial condition, inflation-adjusted growth of cash flow, unit sales, earnings and dividends and strongly competitive position in a growing industry. Clifford begins their research by collecting, organizing and evaluating financial and economic data and assessing its investment significance. They then apply various screens to focus their selection of equity and fixed-income instruments on those most attractive for clients' portfolios. They purchase securities for the long term and apply established disciplines to determine if and when replacements are necessary. The final step is to determine a fair price to pay for the securities. Two factors govern this assessment. The first is the Clifford model, which looks at the real growth of the underlying company. The second factor is the firm's collective judgment as to whether the company operates in an environment where it can continue to do well. Clifford evaluates management's ability to perpetuate that growth cycle beyond market expectations. They establish a fair market value for share price by combining their analysis of expected growth rate with an assessment of the company's ability to extend the life of its growth phase. Any stock is a candidate for sale if the firm perceives deteriorating company or industry fundamentals or the stock is becoming substantially overvalued. They also do not let a single stock that has done well create an imbalance in a portfolio. The firm purchases bonds for income and lower price volatility, purchasing only investment grade fixed-income issues. They take advantage of market inefficiencies through a disciplined selection process. Non-Treasury issues purchased for portfolios must provide a sufficient yield advantage to justify the increased risk. They focus on intermediate issues to minimize the potential price volatility of long-term bonds. They calculate the risk/return trade-off for alternative duration choices to maximize returns for a given level of risk. A bond may be sold when, in Clifford's judgment, its yield spread narrows versus alternatives with comparable risk or the sector's fundamental attractiveness declines.

Functions as a College/University

National bank

Clifford Swan builds personalized strategies for wealth preservation and growth based upon the unique objectives and circumstances of the client. The firm employs a disciplined, long-term approach toward investment management. While a client can elect to have an all-equity portfolio or an all-fixed-income portfolio, most of their clients have balanced portfolios, invested in equities and fixed-income securities.