Management, LLC (the “Advisor”) selects companies that it believes have strong capital appreciation potential. The Fund may invest in foreign (non-U.S.) securities. The Fund’s investments in foreign securities may be direct investments or in the form of American Depositary Receipts (“ADRs”) and Global Depositary Receipts (“GDRs”). The Fund may enter into currency contracts (such as spot, forward and futures) to hedge foreign currency exposure. The Fund may also use futures, options, swaps and other derivatives (a financial contract with a value that depends on, or is derived from, the value of an underlying asset, reference rate or index) as a substitute for taking a position in the underlying asset, as part of a strategy designed to reduce exposure to other risks and/or to manage cash. The Fund is classified as a “non-diversified fund” under the Investment Company Act of 1940, which means that a relatively high percentage of the Fund’s assets may be invested in a limited number of issuers.
The Fund seeks to invest in companies whose future prospects are misunderstood or not fully recognized by the market. The Fund employs a fundamental value investing approach which seeks to exploit market inefficiencies created by irrational investor behavior, such as investment decisions driven by emotions, biases, or cognitive errors. To identify these investment opportunities, the Fund employs a disciplined, bottom-up investment process highlighted by rigorous, internally-generated fundamental research. As part of the Advisor's investment process, the investment team evaluates the general and industry-specific Environmental, Social, and Governance (“ESG”) factors that the Advisor believes to be the most financially material to a company's short-, medium-, and long-term enterprise value. The Advisor believes this evaluation contributes to its overall analysis of a company’s value creation for shareholders and future financial performance.
The Fund does not employ predetermined rules for sales; rather, the Fund evaluates each sell candidate based on the candidate’s specific risk and return characteristics which include: 1) relative valuation; 2) fundamental operating trends; 3) deterioration of fundamentals; and 4) portfolio diversification. Relative valuation involves selling an investment when a company’s valuation metrics become high relative to comparable companies, the market, or its historical levels. Fundamental operating trends involves selling an investment when there is evidence of a decline in a company’s underlying business performance or industry conditions. Deterioration of fundamentals involves selling an investment when a company’s underlying business or industry fundamentals, such as revenue or earnings, weaken. Portfolio diversification refers to selling holdings to maintain balance, manage risk, and optimize returns.
As of the date of this Prospectus, the top sector represented by the Fund’s underlying investments was information technology. The Fund’s investments in various sectors may change over time.
Principal Investment Risks. As with any mutual fund, the value of the Fund’s investments, and therefore the value of its shares, may go down and you could lose all or a portion of your investment in the Fund. Many factors can affect those values. The factors that are most likely to have a material effect on the Fund’s portfolio as a whole are called “principal risks.” The principal risks of investing in the Fund are described in this section.
Market Risk. Market risk is the risk that the market price of securities owned by the Fund may go down, sometimes rapidly or unpredictably, due to factors affecting securities markets generally or particular industries
represented in the securities markets. These factors include general domestic or foreign economic, political or financial market conditions, rates of economic growth and employment, trade and monetary policy, interest rates, inflation, and currency rates. Natural disasters, public health emergencies (including pandemics and epidemics), global conflict and war, military conflict, climate change, terrorism and other unforeseeable events that adversely affect individual companies, industries, sectors, and/or segments of the market, may lead to instability in world economies and markets and may have negative long-term effects. Any of such factors could have a materially negative impact on the value of the Fund’s shares or the liquidity of an investment and may result in increased market volatility.
Style Risk. The Advisor follows an investing style that favors value investments. Value investing style may over time go in and out of favor in certain market cycles. At times when the value investing style is out of favor the Fund's performance may be negatively impacted. Investors should be prepared to tolerate volatility in Fund returns.
Equity Securities Risk. Equity securities, both common and preferred stocks, have greater price volatility than fixed income securities. The market price of equity securities owned by the Fund may go down, sometimes rapidly or unpredictably. Equity securities may decline in value due to factors affecting the issuer, equity securities markets generally or particular industries represented by those markets, including poor management on the part of the stock's issuer, shrinking product demand and other business risks, such as rapid technological developments or widespread adoption of emerging technologies (such as artificial intelligence).
Capitalization Risk. Large cap companies as a group could fall out of favor with the market, causing the Fund to underperform investments that focus on small or mid-cap companies. Investment in small and mid-cap companies may involve more risk than investing in larger, more established companies. Small and mid-cap companies may have limited product lines or markets. They may be less financially secure than larger, more established companies. They may depend on a small number of key personnel. Should a product fail, or if management changes, or if there are other adverse developments, the Fund’s investment in a small or mid-cap company may lose substantial value. In addition, small and mid-cap companies may be particularly affected by interest rate increases, as they may find it more difficult to borrow money to continue or expand operations, or may have difficulty in repaying any loans.
Fixed Income Securities Risk. Fixed income securities, such as bonds, involve credit risk. Credit risk is the risk that the borrower will not make timely payments of principal and interest. The degree of credit risk depends on the issuer’s financial condition and on the terms of the securities. Fixed income securities are also subject to interest rate risk, income risk, and call risk.
Active Management Risk. The Fund is subject to active management risk because it is an actively managed investment portfolio. The Advisor invests in securities that may not necessarily be included in the Fund’s benchmark. The Advisor may misjudge the risk and/or return potential of a security. This misjudgment can result in a loss or a significant performance deviation relative to its benchmark. The Advisor does not seek to replicate the performance of any index.
Information Technology Sector Risk. The Fund will not concentrate its investments (i.e. invest more than 25% of the value of its total assets) in