Investment objective & strategy
As of March 28, 2022 · prospectusObjective. Investment Objective. The investment objective of the International Companies Fund is total return.
Strategy. Principal Investment Strategy of the Fund. The International Companies Fund seeks to meet its investment objective by investing in unaffiliated mutual funds and ETFs that invest primarily in equity securities and depositary receipts of internationally domiciled issuers (Underlying International Funds). The International Companies Funds investment objective may be changed without shareholder approval; however, the Fund will provide 60 days advance notice to shareholders before implementing a change in the Funds investment objective. The International Companies Fund seeks to produce income through dividends paid on such Underlying International Funds. The International Companies Fund also seeks to produce income (e.g., premium income on the sale of an option) and total return through an options strategy. The Funds Advisor will generally buy and … Principal Investment Strategy of the Fund. The International Companies Fund seeks to meet its investment objective by investing in unaffiliated mutual funds and ETFs that invest primarily in equity securities and depositary receipts of internationally domiciled issuers (Underlying International Funds). The International Companies Funds investment objective may be changed without shareholder approval; however, the Fund will provide 60 days advance notice to shareholders before implementing a change in the Funds investment objective. The International Companies Fund seeks to produce income through dividends paid on such Underlying International Funds. The International Companies Fund also seeks to produce income (e.g., premium income on the sale of an option) and total return through an options strategy. The Funds Advisor will generally buy and sell options linked to either the MSCI EAFE Index or the S&P 500 Index. The Funds exposure to options is expected to be between 10-20% of the Funds net assets. The International Companies Fund will principally invest in unaffiliated mutual funds and ETFs that invest primarily in securities of international issuers (Underlying International Funds) and the options strategy. For example, the Fund may invest in an open-end mutual fund or ETF linked to the MSCI EAFE Index, which is a stock market index that is designed to measure the equity market performance of developed markets outside of the U.S. & Canada. The Funds Advisor intends to invest in unaffiliated mutual funds and ETFs that do not invest principally in the United States. The portfolio managers will strategically allocate the International Companies Funds resources to the Underlying International Funds and the options strategy as the portfolio managers deem appropriate to perform well over a market cycle. The portfolio managers select the Underlying International Funds based on the following criteria: expense ratio, trading value relative to net asset value, liquidity, the Underlying International Funds overall float and size, amount and frequency of its distributions, geographic focus, the Underlying International Funds performance compared historically to the international stock indices and the availability of individual call options on the Underlying International Funds. The International Companies Fund intends to sell covered call options on a portion of its holdings. The Funds Advisor generally sells covered call options to provide the income component of the options strategy described in the Funds investment objective. The extent of option selling will depend upon market conditions and the Advisors judgment of the advantages of selling call options on the International Companies Funds investments. The International Companies Fund may also sell put options on ETFs that the Funds Advisor believes are attractive for purchase at prices at or above the exercise price of the put options sold. The Advisor generally will sell put options to increase the total return component of the options strategy described in the Funds investment objective. The International Companies Fund may, in certain circumstances, purchase put options on the S&P 500 (or another broad-based securities index deemed suitable for this purpose) to protect against a loss of principal value due to stock price decline. The Advisor generally purchases put options to protect the total return component of the options strategy described in the Funds investment objective. The extent of option selling or purchasing activity will depend upon market conditions and the Advisors assessment of the advantages of selling index call options, purchasing index put options and selling put options on individual stocks. Additionally, the International Companies Fund will enter into call spreads and put spreads that are out of the money. A spread is an options position established by purchasing one option and selling another option of the same class, but of a different series. So, the exercise price of the call options sold will be above the current level of the index when sold and the exercise price of the call options bought will be above the exercise price of the call options sold. The exercise price of put options sold generally will be below the current level of the index when sold and the exercise price of the put options bought will be below the exercise price of put options sold. The International Companies Fund may be appropriate for investors with long-term time horizons who are not sensitive to short-term losses and want to participate in the long-term growth of the financial markets. The Funds Advisor rebalances the International Companies Funds investments in the Underlying International Funds as the Advisor deems necessary and appropriate. The International Companies Funds investments in the types of securities and other investments described in this prospectus vary from time to time, and, at any time, the International Companies Fund may not be invested in all of the types of securities and other investments described in this prospectus. The International Companies Fund may also invest in securities and other investments not described in this prospectus.
Top holdings
As of Aug. 31, 2022 · N-PORT| Security | Ticker | Value | % of fund |
|---|---|---|---|
| ISHARES MSCI EAFE ETF MUTUAL FUND | EFA | $1.77M | 72.84% |
| UBS GROUP AG USD0.10 (REG S) | UBS US | $364.55K | 15.00% |
| Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. SPON ADS EACH REP 1 ORD SHS | MUFG | $206.00K | 8.47% |
| CRONOS GROUP INC | — | $91.50K | 3.76% |
| MONEY MARKET FUND | GOIXX | $30.65K | 1.26% |
Portfolio moves
May 31, 2022 → Aug 31, 2022How 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. |
|---|---|---|
| WP Smaller Companies Income Plus Fund | 13% | 3.34% |
| WP Income Plus Fund | 10% | 4.67% |
| AST QMA International Core Equity Portfolio | 9% | 0.99% |
Footnotes
- Net assets and holdings count as of August 31, 2022, from the fund's N-PORT filing.
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