Objectives

The Emerging Markets Stock Fund seeks long-term growth of principal and income.

Investment approach

This Fund offers investors a highly selective, actively managed emerging market equity fund that invests in companies of any size, primarily in emerging and frontier markets, based on our analysis of companies’ fundamentals relative to their current valuations. Generally, we:

• Target a diversified portfolio of equity securities issued by small-, mid-, and large-cap companies from emerging or frontier market countries that, in our opinion, appear to be temporarily undervalued by the stock market but have a favourable outlook for long-term growth. Emerging market issuers include those located in emerging market countries and those we determine to have significant economic exposure to emerging market countries.
  
  
• Select individual securities based on our analyses of various factors—including a company’s financial strength, economic condition, competitive advantage, quality of the business franchise, financially material environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues and sustainability risks, and the reputation, experience, and competence of its management—as weighed against valuation.

• May use currency derivatives to hedge direct and/or indirect foreign currency exposure. The Fund may use equity derivatives, such as futures, options, and swaps, to create or hedge exposure to equity securities.