The fund seeks capital appreciation in the long term by investing in small-size companies in 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 securities issued by U.S. small-cap companies.
According to the team, a company is considered to be a U.S. company if the company is organized under the laws of, or has its principal office in the United States, or the company has its principal securities trading market in the United States.
The team also considers a company to be a 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 the United States.
The research process is driven by fundamental analysis of one stock at a time. In selecting securities for the portfolio, the research team evaluates 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 also may invest in foreign securities and securities of larger companies.
Also, 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 any foreign countries in which it is permitted to invest.
Additionally, the fund invests predominantly in securities of U.S. issuers and may invest to a limited extent in Canadian issuers.