The fund seeks capital appreciation in the long term by investing in companies across any size 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 stocks of companies located outside the U.S.
The research process is driven by fundamental analysis of one stock at a time. In selecting securities for the portfolio, the research team selects stocks that have the most favorable combination of company fundamentals, earnings potential, and relative valuation.
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 global economic backdrop and the outlook for certain industries, sectors, and individual countries.
However, country allocation is driven largely by stock selection.
Since the fund focuses on developed markets outside the U.S., it typically has significant exposure to companies in Europe.
The portfolio holds approximately 50 to 70 different stocks.
However, the fund will not invest more than 15% of its net assets in stocks of companies in emerging markets.
The fund is non-diversified meaning it may invest a greater portion of assets in a single company.
The fund has the flexibility to invest across all market capitalizations, but typically focuses on larger companies.