Investment objective & strategy
As of April 28, 2025 · prospectusObjective. The Portfolio seeks long-term capital appreciation.
Strategy. The Portfolio invests primarily in equity securities, principally common stocks, of emerging markets companies. In managing the Portfolio, the Investment Manager utilizes a quantitatively driven, bottom up stock selection process. The Portfolio management team selects investments for the Portfolio from a broad investment universe of emerging market stocks and depositary receipts, including American Depositary Receipts (ADRs), Global Depositary Receipts and European Depositary Receipts, real estate investment trusts (REITs), warrants and rights. The active, quantitative approach utilized by the Portfolio management team involves initial screening, risk assessment and evaluation of each company relative to its global peers. The Investment Manager uses an objective, systematic investment process that blends both risk and stock ranking assessments designed to capture attractive risk-to-return characteristics. In … The Portfolio invests primarily in equity securities, principally common stocks, of emerging markets companies. In managing the Portfolio, the Investment Manager utilizes a quantitatively driven, bottom up stock selection process. The Portfolio management team selects investments for the Portfolio from a broad investment universe of emerging market stocks and depositary receipts, including American Depositary Receipts (ADRs), Global Depositary Receipts and European Depositary Receipts, real estate investment trusts (REITs), warrants and rights. The active, quantitative approach utilized by the Portfolio management team involves initial screening, risk assessment and evaluation of each company relative to its global peers. The Investment Manager uses an objective, systematic investment process that blends both risk and stock ranking assessments designed to capture attractive risk-to-return characteristics. In addition to a multidimensional assessment of risk, each company is evaluated daily according to four independent measures: growth, value, sentiment and quality. The Portfolio may invest across the capitalization spectrum. Under normal circumstances, the Portfolio invests at least 80% of its assets in equity securities of companies that are economically tied to emerging market countries. The allocation of the Portfolios assets among countries and regions will vary from time to time based on the Investment Managers judgment and its analysis of market conditions. Implementation of the Portfolios investment strategy may, during certain periods, result in the investment of a significant portion of the Portfolios assets in a particular country. The Portfolio considers a company to be economically tied to emerging markets countries if: (i) the company is organized under the laws of or domiciled in an emerging markets country or maintains its principal place of business in an emerging markets country; (ii) the securities of such company are traded principally in emerging markets countries; or (iii) during the most recent fiscal year of the company, the company derived at least 50% of its revenues or profits from goods produced or sold, investments made, or services performed in emerging markets countries or that has at least 50% of its assets in emerging markets countries. The Portfolio considers emerging markets countries to be all countries: (i) included in the MSCI Emerging Markets Index; or (ii) not included in the MSCI World Index. The Portfolio may invest in exchange-traded open-end management investment companies (ETFs), generally those that pursue a passive index-based strategy.
Top holdings
As of March 31, 2026 · N-PORT| Security | Ticker | Value | % of fund |
|---|---|---|---|
| TSMC | — | $100.57M | 13.46% |
| SAMSUNG ELEC VTG GDR REGS | SSNHZ US | $44.28M | 5.93% |
| TENCENT HOLDINGS LTD | — | $27.05M | 3.62% |
| SK HYNIX INC | — | $23.10M | 3.09% |
| BABA-W | — | $18.79M | 2.51% |
| DELTA ELEC | — | $16.47M | 2.20% |
| PETROBRAS-PREF | — | $11.24M | 1.50% |
| PING AN-H | — | $11.23M | 1.50% |
| MEDIATEK | — | $10.99M | 1.47% |
| INTL CONTAINER TERM SVCS INC COMMON STOCK | ICT | $6.55M | 0.88% |
Portfolio moves
Dec 31, 2025 → Mar 31, 2026How many positions this fund opened, exited, grew, trimmed, or left unchanged between its two most recent N-PORT snapshots — net changes between point-in-time reports, not a trade log.
Similar funds
Funds whose portfolios most overlap this one, by weight| Fund | Overlap | Net exp. |
|---|---|---|
| SSGA Emerging Markets Enhanced Index Portfolio | 45% | 0.66% |
| Emerging Economies Fund · VCGEX | 44% | 1.02% |
| LVIP Franklin Templeton Multi-Factor Emerging Markets Equity Fund | 43% | 0.46% |
Advisers
| Firm | Role |
|---|---|
| Lazard Asset Management LLC | Adviser |
Footnotes
- Expense ratio as of April 28, 2025, from the fund's prospectus.
- Net assets and holdings count as of March 31, 2026, from the fund's N-PORT filing.
- Total return for calendar year 2025, before tax and after fund expenses. Computed by compounding the twelve monthly total returns the fund reported in its SEC N-PORT filings for 2025 (the latest prospectus does not yet chart this year).
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