The fund seeks capital appreciation by investing in companies across any size outside the United States.
The 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.
Next, the research team Invests in a portfolio of global equities.
Generally, the team invests at least 40% of the fund’s net assets in companies that maintain their principal place of business or conduct their principal business activities outside the U.S.
The team also considers companies that have their securities traded on non-U.S. exchanges or that have securities that trade in the form of depositary receipts, or companies that have been formed under the laws of non-U.S. countries.
The investment team considers a company to conduct its principal business activities outside the U.S. if it derives at least 50% of its revenue or profits from business outside the U.S. or has at least 50% of its sales or assets outside of the U.S.
However, if market conditions are not deemed favorable, the team may limit the fund’s investments outside the U.S. to 30% of its net assets.
The team favors companies with growth potential that are trading at attractive valuations.
In addition, the team also looks for companies that have a durable competitive advantage in an industry with high barriers to entry.
Also, the team prefers companies having superior management teams with sound corporate governance, a track record of durable profit margins, and balance sheet strength with low leverage.
The research process is driven by fundamental analysis of one stock at a time.
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 focused portfolio generally holds 15 to 30 select companies.
From time to time, the fund may focus its foreign investments in Europe.
The fund is non-diversified which means that it may invest a greater amount of its assets in the securities of a single issuer or a small number of issuers than a diversified fund.