The fund seeks primarily capital appreciation and secondarily current income in the long term by investing in mega-and large-size companies in the United States.
The fund manages assets by hiring sub-advisers and currently works with two. The sub-advisers are Brandywine Global Investment Management, LLC and T. Rowe Price & Associates, Inc.
The sub-advisers each are responsible for a portion of the portfolio, although they may manage different amounts of the fund’s net assets.
The sub-advisers’ investment process is designed to identify well-established companies that are estimated to trade below their fair values.
Brandywine combines quantitative and fundamental analysis to identify stocks with favorable financial ratios. The sub-adviser evaluates companies on the basis of valuation multiples such as earnings, book value, price momentum, and share change and quality.
Next, the sub-adviser constructs a portfolio that holds approximately 175 to 250 stocks.
T. Rowe Price employs a value approach in selecting investments. The sub-adviser utilizes internal research to identify companies that appear to be undervalued and may be temporarily out of favor but have good prospects for capital appreciation and dividend growth.
The sub-adviser focuses on companies with an established operating history; above-average dividend yield and low price/earnings ratio, balance sheet strength, and low stock price.
The fund may purchase a security if it believes there could be an increase in value as a result of a management change, an extraordinary corporate event, a new product introduction or innovation, or a favorable competitive development.
The fund may at times have significant exposure to one or more industries or sectors, or may hold a portion of its assets in cash or cash equivalents.
The fund may invest up to 25% of its net assets in securities of foreign issuers and American Depositary Receipts, including emerging market securities.