The fund seeks capital appreciation in the long term by investing in companies across any size outside the United States.
The sub-advisers’ 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 stocks of companies located (or with primary operations) in Asia (excluding Japan).
The fund normally invests in countries such as China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, and Thailand.
Other Asian countries in which the fund invests include Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Vietnam.
The team emphasizes companies exhibiting durable above-average earnings growth over the long term.
In addition, the team favors companies that are trading at reasonable prices in relation to present or anticipated earnings, cash flow, or book value.
Additionally, the team prefers companies with leading market position, attractive business niche, attractive or improving franchise or industry position, and proven management teams.
The team also seeks companies with consistent or improving earnings and/or cash flow; and sound or improving balance sheet.
However, the research process is driven by fundamental analysis of one stock at a time. In selecting securities for the portfolio, the research team looks to identify the best investment opportunities and is not constrained by the index.
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 invests with an awareness of the outlook for certain industry sectors and individual countries within the region.
However, country allocation is driven largely by stock selection.
The fund invests significantly in Asian countries and typically has substantial investments in China.
Also, the fund is non-diversified meaning it may invest a greater portion of assets in a single company.