The portfolio management team makes decisions as long-term business owners, performing in-depth fundamental research to identify companies with enduring structural and competitive advantages.

The team invests in businesses that are strategically positioned for consistent long-term growth and meet key investment criteria:

• Established brand names
• Dominant market shares
• Pricing power
• Recurring revenue streams
• Free cash flow
• Defensible niche
• Favorable long-term growth prospects
• Excellent management

The team's goal is to invest in growth companies whose intrinsic business value is both attractive relative to its stock price and increasing over time.

A Word about Risk

International investing presents specific risks, such as currency fluctuations, differences in financial accounting standards, and potential political and economic instability. Investing in small- and mid-cap stocks may involve greater risks than investing in larger, more established companies. These companies often have narrow markets and more limited managerial and financial resources. Growth companies are expected to increase their earnings at a certain rate. When these expectations are not met, investors may punish the stocks excessively, even if earnings showed an absolute increase. Growth company stocks also typically lack the dividend yield that can cushion stock prices in market downturns. Because the fund normally will hold a core portfolio of stocks of fewer companies than many other diversified funds, the increase or decrease of the value of a single stock may have a greater impact on the fund’s net asset value and total return.