Business Models, Sentiment Analysis and Market Themes & Trends. Fundamental Mispricings seeks to identify high-quality businesses trading at a fair price, which the Investment Adviser believes leads to strong performance over the long-run. High Quality Business Models seeks to identify companies that are generating high-quality revenues with sustainable business models and aligned management incentives. Sentiment Analysis seeks to identify stocks experiencing improvements in their overall market sentiment. Market Themes and Trends seeks to identify companies positively positioned to benefit from themes and trends in the market and macroeconomic environment. As a part of the Investment Adviser's investment selection process, the Investment Adviser utilizes proprietary models that assess a wide range of indicators, which may include certain environmental, social and governance ("ESG") indicators. No one indicator, risk or consideration is determinative in the investment selection process. The Fund may make investment decisions that deviate from those generated by the Investment Adviser's proprietary models, at the discretion of the Investment Adviser. In addition, the Investment Adviser may, in its discretion, make changes to its quantitative techniques, or use other quantitative techniques that are based on the Investment Adviser's proprietary research.
The Fund may allocate its assets among countries as determined by the Investment Adviser from time to time, provided the Fund's assets are invested in at least three foreign countries.
In managing the Fund, the Investment Adviser balances investment considerations and tax considerations. The Fund seeks to achieve returns primarily in the form of price appreciation (which is not subject to current tax), and may use different strategies in seeking tax-efficiency. These strategies include:
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Offsetting long-term and short-term capital gains with long-term and short-term capital losses and creating loss carry-forward positions
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Managing portfolio turnover that may result in capital gains and losses
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Selling tax lots of securities that have a higher tax basis before selling tax lots of securities that have a lower tax basis. The Fund's investments in fixed income securities are limited to cash equivalents.
The Fund's benchmark index is the Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) Europe, Australasia, Far East (EAFE) Index (Net, USD, Unhedged) ("MSCI EAFE Index").
Principal Risks of the Fund
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Loss of money is a risk of investing in the Fund.An investment in the Fund is not a bank deposit and is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation ("FDIC") or any government agency. The Fund should not be relied upon as a complete investment program. There can be no assurance that the Fund will achieve its investment objective. Investments in the Fund involve substantial risks which prospective investors should consider carefully before investing. The Fund's principal risks are presented below in alphabetical order, and not in the order of importance or potential exposure.
Foreign Risk. Foreign securities may be subject to risk of loss because of more or less foreign government regulation; less public information; less stringent investor protections; less stringent accounting, corporate governance, financial reporting and disclosure standards; and less economic, political and social stability in the countries in which the Fund invests. The imposition of sanctions, exchange controls (including repatriation restrictions), confiscations, trade restrictions (including tariffs) and other government restrictions by the United States and other governments, or from problems in share registration, settlement or
custody, may also result in losses. The type and severity of sanctions and other similar measures, including counter sanctions and other retaliatory actions, that may be imposed could vary broadly in scope, and their impact is impossible to predict. For example, the imposition of sanctions and other similar measures could, among other things, cause a decline in the value and/or liquidity of securities issued by the sanctioned country or companies located in or economically tied to the sanctioned country and increase market volatility and disruption in the sanctioned country and throughout the world. Sanctions and other similar measures could limit or prevent the Fund from buying and selling securities (in the sanctioned country and other markets), significantly delay or prevent the settlement of securities transactions, and significantly impact the Fund's liquidity and performance. Foreign risk also involves the risk of negative foreign currency rate fluctuations, which may cause the value of securities denominated in such foreign currency (or other instruments through which the Fund has exposure to foreign currencies) to decline in value. Currency exchange rates may fluctuate significantly over short periods of time.
Investment Style Risk. Different investment styles (e.g., "growth", "value" or "quantitative") tend to shift in and out of favor depending upon market and economic conditions and investor sentiment. The Fund may outperform or underperform other funds that invest in similar asset classes but employ different investment styles.
Large Shareholder Transactions Risk. The Fund may experience adverse effects when certain large shareholders purchase or redeem large amounts of shares of the Fund. Such large shareholder redemptions, which may occur rapidly or unexpectedly, may cause the Fund to sell portfolio securities at times when it would not otherwise do so, which may negatively impact the Fund's net asset value ("NAV") and liquidity. Similarly, large Fund share purchases may adversely affect the Fund's performance to the extent that the Fund is delayed in investing new cash or otherwise maintains a larger cash position than it ordinarily would. These transactions may also accelerate the realization of taxable income to shareholders if such sales of investments resulted in gains, and may also increase transaction costs. In addition, a large redemption could result in the Fund's current expenses being allocated over a smaller asset base, leading to an increase in the Fund's expense ratio.
Management Risk. A strategy used by the Investment Adviser may fail to produce the intended results. The Investment Adviser attempts to execute a complex strategy for the Fund using proprietary quantitative models. Investments selected using these models may perform differently than expected as a result of the factors used in the models, the weight placed on each factor, changes from the factors' historical trends, and technical and other issues in the construction, implementation and maintenance of the models (including, for example, data problems, unauthorized changes and/or software issues). There is no guarantee that the Investment Adviser's use of these quantitative models will result in effective investment decisions for the Fund. Additionally, commonality of holdings across quantitative money managers may amplify losses.
Market Risk.The value of the securities in which the Fund invests may go up or down in response to the prospects of individual companies, particular sectors or governments and/or general economic conditions throughout the world due to increasingly interconnected global economies and financial markets. Events such as war, military conflict, acts of terrorism, social unrest, natural disasters, recessions, inflation, rapid interest rate changes, supply chain disruptions, sanctions, the spread of infectious illness or other public health threats could also significantly impact the Fund and its investments.