The fund seeks capital appreciation 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 equity securities that include common stocks, equity interests in real estate investment trusts, and other securities that represent an ownership interest (or right to acquire an ownership interest) in a company or other issuer.
The research process is driven by fundamental analysis of one stock at a time. In selecting securities for the portfolio, the research team focuses on companies that are estimated to trade below their fair values.
In addition, the team prefers high-quality companies with resilient business models, above-average returns, superior balance sheets and prudent capital deployment.
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 invest its net assets in foreign securities.
Also, the fund may invest a significant percentage of its net assets in issuers in a single industry or sector.