Investment Style
The Aston/SGA International Small-Mid Cap Fund uses a proprietary, bottom-up multi-factor quantitative model centered on growth, value, quality, and sentiment categories to identify the 120 to 150 most attractive stocks outside the U.S. ranging from $100 million to $7 billion in market capitalization.
Investment Strategy
Under normal conditions, the Fund invests at least 80% of its assets in equity securities of small- to mid-cap companies based in foreign (non-U.S.) countries, including emerging market countries. The managers define small- to mid-cap companies as companies with market capitalizations, at the time of acquisition, of less than $15 billion.
The managers employ primarily bottom-up stock selection that begins with a proprietary quantitative process to identify companies with the potential for high risk-adjusted returns. The model evaluates multiple factors within four categories:
valuation
growth
quality
sentiment
SGA believes that quantitative data, analyzed in a timely and disciplined manner, can be used to identify mispricings in the market and generate returns in excess of general market returns. SGA's proprietary process ranks companies against their global peers across a variety of predictive factors in order to identify the most attractive investment opportunities. Using a proprietary risk model and optimization tools, the managers then focus on the best ideas on a risk-adjusted basis.
Companies identified as potential investments, pursuant to the quantitative process described above, are reviewed on a fundamental basis before being added to the portfolio.
Under normal conditions, the Fund will invest in issues of at least five countries other than the United States. Country and sector exposures are generally determined by reference to recognized benchmark weights, but may be substantially underweighted or overweighted based on stock selection opportunities, as well as market and economic factors. The Fund may invest in developed and emerging markets.
To help manage risk, the managers adhere to a strong sell discipline. In the course of implementing its principal investment strategies, the Fund's annual turnover rate is not expected to exceed 100%.
Note: Risks of investing in international markets include but are not limited to social and political instability, market illiquidity and currency volatility. 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 |
ASNMX |
| Cusip |
00080Y777 |
| Load |
None |
| Fund Statistics (as of
3/31/2008) |
|
|
$996,890.00 |
| Expense Ratio |
1.80% |
|
|
| Sector Breakdown (as of
3/31/2008) |
| Industrials |
22.19% |
| Consumer Discretionary |
18.03% |
| Financials |
14.09% |
| Materials |
11.40% |
| Healthcare |
6.49% |
| Consumer Staples |
6.04% |
| Information Technology |
5.89% |
| Cash Equivalents & Other |
5.37% |
| Energy |
4.00% |
| Utilities |
2.90% |
| Exchange Traded Funds |
2.25% |
| Telecommunication Services |
1.35% |
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.