Investment Style
The Aston/ClariVest Mid Cap Growth Fund uses a sophisticated and economically intuitive multifactor quantitative model to capture excess return potential created by investors’ inefficient response to growth and contraction cycles.
Investment Strategy
Under normal conditions, the Fund invests at least 80% of its assets in common stocks and other equity securities of mid-cap companies. The portfolio manager defines a mid-cap company as having a market capitalization, at the time of acquisition, within the range of market capitalizations of companies constituting
the Russell Midcap® Growth Index.
The investment process involves three steps:
- Stock selection. The portfolio manager uses a quantitativebased approach to select individual stocks. The stock selection process is premised on the theory that investors will react inefficiently to changes in market information. The selection process is designed to process large amounts of information more efficiently and identify signals of growth cycles.
- Portfolio Construction. The portfolio manger seeks to minimize style risk through statistical measures that analyze how stocks move together.
- Trading. The portfolio manager seeks to implement ideas through cost effective trading techniques. Broker-dealers are selected on the basis of execution.
In the course of implementing its principal investment strategies, the Fund may experience a high annual turnover rate, which is not expected to exceed 200%.
Note: Small and Mid-cap stocks are generally riskier than large cap stocks due to greater volatility and less liquidity.
| Fund Overview |
| Inception Date |
11/2/2007 |
| Ticker |
ACVMX |
| Cusip |
00080Y793 |
| Load |
None |
| Fund Statistics (as of
3/31/2008) |
|
|
$449,600.00 |
| Expense Ratio |
1.40% |
|
|
| Sector Breakdown (as of
3/31/2008) |
| Industrials |
23.12% |
| Information Technology |
15.38% |
| Materials |
12.58% |
| Healthcare |
10.94% |
| Energy |
9.95% |
| Consumer Discretionary |
8.11% |
| Consumer Staples |
6.22% |
| Cash Equivalents & Other |
5.69% |
| Utilities |
4.69% |
| Financials |
1.78% |
| Telecommunication Services |
1.53% |
Past performance does not guarantee future results. Investment return and principal value of mutual funds will vary with market conditions, so that shares, when redeemed, may be worth more or less than their original cost.
Expense Ratio. A fund's cost of doing business, expressed as a percentage of its assets and disclosed in a prospectus.
Turnover. The number of shares traded for a period as a percentage of the total shares in a portfolio or of an exchange.
Alpha. Measures the difference between a fund’s actual returns and its expected performance, given its level of risk.
Beta. The measure of risk which shows a fund’s volatility relative to an index.
R-Squared. The percentage of a fund’s movement that can be explained by movements in its benchmark index.
Standard Deviation. A statistical measure of the historical volatility of a mutual fund or portfolio, usually computed using 36 monthly returns. More generally, a measure of the extent to which numbers are spread around their average.
Sharpe Ratio. A risk-adjusted measure used to determine reward per unit of risk.