John Neff

Windsor Fund; low-P/E, total-return ratio, contrarian dividend value

John Neff managed the Vanguard Windsor Fund from 1964 to 1995, outperforming the S&P 500 by roughly three percentage points annually over that span. His signature method paired a low price-to-earnings screen with a 'total-return ratio' — earnings growth plus dividend yield divided by P/E — to find unloved stocks the market had mispriced. He outlined the approach in his book 'John Neff on Investing' (1999).