The fund seeks capital appreciation in the long term by investing in companies across any size outside the United States.
The multi-step investment process starts with a list of companies in the benchmark index and the research team utilizes quantitative techniques and fundamental analysis to identify attractive investment opportunities.
Then the research team employs a proprietary expected returns model to rank the companies from most attractive to least attractive.
Next, the team narrows the investable universe to a list of companies that demonstrate an optimal balance between risk and estimated return.
Also, as part of its process, the team emphasizes companies that are estimated to trade below their fair values. The team believes companies may be undervalued due to market declines, poor economic conditions, actual or anticipated bad news regarding the issuer or its industry, or because it has been overlooked by the market.
In addition, the process also considers factors such as risk management, transaction costs, and liquidity management.
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.
Generally, the manager invests across different countries and geographic regions, but may invest a significant portion of assets in one country or region when consistent with the fund’s investment process.
The manager invests in securities of issuers from a minimum of three countries outside the United States.
The fund may invest in companies across all market capitalizations, including small-cap companies.