The Templeton Touch

Although John Templeton (1912–2008) simply considered himself a bargain hunter, those in the know on Wall Street considered him one of the greatest stock pickers of the twentieth century. Anyone prudent enough to have invested $10,000 in his Templeton Growth Fund when it was first established in 1954 would today have over $7 million to their name if they left those funds alone. Few mutual funds can match that kind of spectacular and consistent performance.

How did he do it? What kind of p...