The fund seeks capital appreciation in the long term by investing in small-and mid-size companies 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 focuses on companies whose securities may be traded on U.S. or non-U.S. securities exchanges, and may include American Depositary Receipts and other similar depositary receipts.
The research team considers value and growth companies that are estimated to trade below their fair values relative to their fundamentals.
According to the research team, value companies are those that are trading at a discount to their estimated intrinsic value with capital appreciation potential.
The team also considers growth companies that demonstrate accelerated earnings and profit growth prospects.
Additionally, 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.
In addition, the fund may invest up to 15% of its net assets in securities of foreign companies that are traded primarily on securities markets or exchanges located in emerging market countries.
The fund also may invest in U.S. companies.