The fund seeks capital appreciation in the long term by investing in small-size companies outside the United States.
The sub-adviser’s investment process starts with a list of companies in the benchmark index and the research team utilizes quantitative techniques and fundamental analysis to identify investment opportunities.
The process utilizes both fundamentally based, bottom-up techniques with top-down, industry and sector analysis to identify global opportunities.
Next, the research team invests in equity securities of global companies.
The research process is driven by fundamental analysis of one stock at a time. In selecting securities for the portfolio, the research team focuses on companies that are estimated to trade below their fair values.
The team also favors well-managed companies that have flexible balance sheets.
Then the manager constructs a portfolio of stocks from a list of companies favored by the research team and allocates capital based on its conviction level.
The fund invests in the securities of companies located in no fewer than three countries, which may include the U.S., and may invest more than 25% of its net assets in any one country.
Also, the fund may invest up to 10% of its net assets in emerging market equity securities.