Under normal conditions, the Fund seeks to achieve its investment objective by investing at least 80% of the value of its net assets (plus any borrowings for investment purposes) in equity securities of large-capitalization companies that have value characteristics (“80% Policy”). For purposes of this 80% Policy, large-capitalization companies are companies with market capitalizations greater than $5 billion. A company is considered to have value characteristics if it (i) is included in a Russell value index, (ii) is classified as a value company by an independent third-party source, or (iii) is determined by the Adviser to have value characteristics based on one or more qualitative or quantitative factors, including consideration of past, current or future earnings, cash flows, book value and sales or growth rates relative to a company’s history, industry or the broader market.
The Fund seeks to invest in companies at discounts to their business value, which the Fund considers to be the present value of sustainable free cash flow. To identify these investment opportunities, the Fund employs a disciplined, bottom-up investment process highlighted by rigorous, internally-generated fundamental research. Accordingly, investments are made only when the Fund believes there is a sufficient discount to business value to mitigate the loss of capital in the event of adverse circumstances.
Equity securities in which the Fund may invest include common and preferred stock, convertible debt securities, American Depositary Receipts (“ADRs”), real estate investment trusts (“REITs”), exchange traded funds (“ETFs”), and other types of investment companies. The Fund may also invest in private placements in these types of securities. The Fund may invest in ETFs and other types of investment companies that have an investment objective similar to the Fund’s or that otherwise are permitted investments with the Fund’s investment policies described herein. ADRs are equity securities traded on U.S. securities exchanges, which are generally issued by banks or trust companies to evidence ownership of foreign equity securities. The Fund may invest up to 20% of its net assets in foreign securities. The Fund is non-diversified, which means that it may invest a significant portion of its assets in the securities of a single issuer or small number of issuers.
The Fund may utilize options, futures contracts and options on futures. These investments will typically be made for investment purposes consistent with the Fund’s investment objective and may also be used to mitigate or hedge risks within the portfolio or for the temporary investment of cash balances. By investing in derivatives, the Fund attempts to achieve the economic equivalence it would achieve if it were to invest directly in the underlying security. Investments in derivatives may be counted towards the Fund’s 80% Policy if they provide investment exposure to investments that are included in the Fund’s 80% Policy or to one or more market risk factors associated with such investments.
The Fund may sell a security or reduce its position if it believes:
•The security subsequently fails to meet initial investment criteria;
•A more attractively priced security is found; or
•The security becomes overvalued relative to the long-term expectation.
In order to respond to adverse market, economic, political, or other conditions, the Fund may assume a temporary defensive position that is inconsistent with its investment objective and principal investment strategy and invest without limit in cash and prime quality cash equivalents such as prime commercial paper and other money market instruments. A defensive position, taken at the wrong time, may have an adverse impact on the Fund’s performance. The Fund may be unable to achieve its investment objective during the employment of a temporary defensive measure.
