The fund seeks capital appreciation in the long term by investing in companies across any size 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.
Next, the research team invests in securities issued by companies located throughout the world (including the U.S.), and also invests significantly in non-U.S. companies.
According to the team, a company is considered to be a non-U.S. company if the company is organized under the laws of or has its principal office in a country outside the U.S., or has its principal securities trading market in a country outside the U.S.
Also, the team considers a company to be a non-U.S. company if the company derives the majority of its annual revenue or earnings or assets from goods produced, sales made or services performed in a country outside the U.S.
The research process is driven by fundamental analysis of one stock at a time. In selecting securities for the portfolio, the research team relies on fundamental analysis to evaluate companies on the basis of quality and price.
Also, the research team integrates environmental, social and governance factors as part of its process.
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 securities from at least three different countries, and may also invest in companies of emerging market countries.
At times, the fund may have a significant amount of its net assets invested in a country or geographic region.
In addition, the fund may invest in securities of any market sector and may hold a significant amount of securities of companies, from time to time, within a single sector.
The fund may invest in securities denominated in U.S. dollars and the currencies of the foreign countries in which it is permitted to invest.