Strategy. The Fund invests at least 80% of its total assets in equity securities of companies in the U.S and in developed and emerging countries outside the U.S. The Fund will typically hold between 25 and 35 investments. Equity securities include common stock, preferred and preference stock, and depositary receipts. When investing the Funds assets, the Investment Adviser follows a value style, performing fundamental research supplemented by quantitative analysis. Beginning with a universe of all publicly listed companies throughout the developed and emerging markets, the Investment Adviser applies market capitalization and liquidity thresholds to reduce investment candidates to approximately 4,000 equity securities. The Investment Adviser uses quantitative valuation screens to further narrow the potential investment candidates. The Investment Adviser then performs … Show more… The Fund invests at least 80% of its total assets in equity securities of companies in the U.S and in developed and emerging countries outside the U.S. The Fund will typically hold between 25 and 35 investments. Equity securities include common stock, preferred and preference stock, and depositary receipts. When investing the Funds assets, the Investment Adviser follows a value style, performing fundamental research supplemented by quantitative analysis. Beginning with a universe of all publicly listed companies throughout the developed and emerging markets, the Investment Adviser applies market capitalization and liquidity thresholds to reduce investment candidates to approximately 4,000 equity securities. The Investment Adviser uses quantitative valuation screens to further narrow the potential investment candidates. The Investment Adviser then performs fundamental research, which generally includes company-specific research, company visits, and interviews of suppliers, customers, competitors, industry analysts, and experts. This process results in risk-adjusted return forecasts for a closely followed group of potential investment candidates. The next step is a quantitative optimization using forecast annualized returns, forecast annualized volatility risk, and other inputs to produce proposed portfolio weights for investment candidates. To select particular investments, the Investment Adviser performs further fundamental research on the optimized portfolio, which generally includes company-specific and industry-specific research to assess the suitability of individual securities for a portfolio that will typically hold between 25 and 35 investments. The Investment Adviser may apply multiple rounds of optimization and fundamental research before making investments. Using a value style means that the Investment Adviser buys stocks that it believes have lower prices than their true worth. For example, stocks may be undervalued because the issuing companies are in industries that are currently out of favor with investors. However, even in those industries, certain companies may have high rates of growth of earnings and be financially sound. The Investment Adviser considers whether a company has each of the following value characteristics in purchasing or selling securities for the Fund: Low price-to-earnings ratio (stock price divided by earnings per share) relative to the sector High yield (percentage rate of return paid on a stock in dividends and share repurchases) relative to the market Low price-to-book value ratio (stock price divided by book value per share) relative to the market Low price-to-cash flow ratio (stock price divided by net income plus non-cash charges per share) relative to the market Financial strength Generally, price-to-earnings ratio and yield are the most important factors. The Fund may invest in companies of any market capitalization, and is not required to invest a minimum amount and is not limited to investing a maximum amount in companies in any particular country. Under normal circumstances, the Fund will invest all of its total assets in companies in at least three countries. The Investment Adviser determines a companys country by referring to: the stock exchange where its securities are principally traded; where it is registered, organized or incorporated; where its headquarters are located; its MSCI country classification; where it derives at least 50% of its revenues or profits from goods produced or sold, investments made, or services performed; or where at least 50% of its assets are located. These categories are designed to identify investments that are tied economically to, and subject to the risks of, investing outside the U.S. Show less