The fund seeks capital appreciation by investing in small-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 non-U.S. securities, including securities of issuers located in emerging markets.
In addition, the team evaluates a company’s financial condition and industry position, as well as market and economic conditions.
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 manager allocates investments across different countries and regions.
The fund seeks capital appreciation in the long term by investing in small-size companies 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 focuses on securities of Japanese companies.
The team considers a Japanese company to be a company organized under the laws of Japan, for which the principal securities trading market is Japan, or that has a majority of its assets or business in Japan.
In addition, the team prefers companies with excellent businesses and management teams that are trading at attractive prices.
Also, the team looks for companies having a well-capitalized balance sheet with little debt, sustainable competitive advantage, high return on equity, above- average earnings growth rate, and superior cash flow generation.
The team also focuses on companies that are trading at a discount to their estimated intrinsic value and whose future earnings power is not reflected in their current valuations.
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 may also invest in Japan real estate investment trusts or other investment companies including exchange traded funds that invest in equity securities of Japanese companies.
The fund seeks capital appreciation in the long term by investing in small-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 located in Asia ex Japan, which consists of all countries and markets in Asia excluding Japan but including all other developed, emerging and frontier countries and markets in the Asian region.
In addition, the team prefers companies that demonstrate characteristics such as durable growth. The team evaluates durable growth of companies on the basis of factors such as balance sheet information, number of employees, size and stability of cash flow.
Other factors in consideration for durable growth of companies are capability, adaptability and integrity of management teams, their product lines, marketing strategies, corporate governance, and financial health.
Additionally, the team favors companies that operate in growth industries with prospects to expand their business over time.
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.
As part of its investment strategy, the fund may from time to time invest a significant portion of its net assets in one or more sectors, but the fund may invest in companies in any sector.
The fund may also invest in depositary receipts, including American, European and Global Depositary Receipts.
The fund seeks to appreciate capital through investing in small companies outside of the United States.
The fund considers investments in developed regions and emerging markets around the world and diversifies investment across many industries, countries and geographical regions.
The investment process starts with small-size companies in the market cap range between $500 million and $3 billion and then applies fundamental research and qualitative criteria to identify profitable and well-managed companies. The research team then looks to buy companies that are trading at reasonable price compared to estimated returns.
The fund holds about 100 stocks and top 10 holdings account for 18% of total assets.
