International Equity
Individual mutual fund portfolios that allow you to construct a unique asset allocation strategy
If you prefer to construct your own asset allocation, or supplement other options, you may select among the following international equity funds:
| International Equity |
| Dodge and Cox International Stock |
| Parametric International Equity |
Dodge and Cox International Stock (DODFX)
Investment Objective and Principal Strategies.
The fund's investment objective is long-term growth of principal and income. The Fund seeks to achieve its investment objective by investing primarily in a diversified portfolio of equity securities issued by non-U.S. companies from at least three different countries, which may include emerging market countries. The Fund is not required to allocate its investments in set percentages in particular countries and may invest in emerging markets without limit. Under normal circumstances, the Fund will invest at least 80% of its total assets in equity securities of non-U.S. companies, including common stocks, depositary receipts evidencing ownership of common stocks, preferred stocks, securities convertible into common stocks, and securities that carry the right to buy common stocks (e.g., rights and warrants). The Fund may enter into currency forward contracts, currency swaps, or currency futures contracts to hedge direct and/or indirect foreign currency exposure. The Fund may use futures or options referencing stock indices to hedge against a general downturn in the equity markets. The Fund also may also use equity index futures to equitize, or create equity market exposure, approximately equal to some or all of its non-equity assets.
The Fund typically invests in medium-to-large well-established companies based on standards of the applicable market. In selecting investments, the Fund typically invests in companies that, in Dodge & Cox’s opinion, appear to be temporarily undervalued by the stock market but have a favorable outlook for long-term growth. The Fund also focuses on the underlying financial condition and prospects of individual companies, including future earnings, cash flow, and dividends. Various other factors, including financial strength, economic condition, competitive advantage, quality of the business franchise, and the reputation, experience, and competence of a company’s management are weighed against valuation in selecting individual securities. The Fund also considers the economic and political stability of the country where the issuer is located and the protections provided to shareholders.
Principal Risks.
The principal risks of investing in the Fund, which could adversely affect its net asset value, yield and total return, are equity risk, market risk, manager risk, non-U.S. investment risk, emerging markets risk, non-U.S. currency risk, liquidity risk, and derivatives risk.
Parametric International Equity Fund
Investment Objective and Principal Strategies.
The fund's investment objective is to seek long-term capital appreciation. Under normal market conditions, the Fund invests at least 80% of its net assets (plus any borrowings for investment purposes) in a diversified portfolio of equity securities (the “80% Policy”). The Fund invests primarily in companies domiciled in and tied economically to one or more countries represented in the MSCI Europe, Australasia, Far East Index (“MSCI EAFE Index”) and may include securities trading in the form of depositary receipts. The MSCI EAFE Index is an unmanaged index of approximately 900 companies located in twenty-one countries. The Fund may invest in securities of companies with a broad range of market capitalizations, including those of smaller, less seasoned companies. The Fund may invest in publically-traded real estate investment trusts (“REITs”). The Fund intends to invest in not less than five different countries and more than 25% of the Fund’s total assets may be denominated in any single currency. The Fund may invest in exchange-traded funds (“ETFs”), a type of pooled investment vehicle, in order to manage cash positions or seek exposure to certain markets or market sectors. The Fund may also lend its securities.
The Fund may engage in derivative transactions and expects to use derivatives primarily to attempt to mitigate the adverse effects of foreign currency fluctuations during the period between the purchase of a security and its settlement, through the use of forward foreign currency exchange contracts. There is no stated limit on the Fund’s use of derivatives.
The Fund seeks to employ a top-down, disciplined and systematic investment process that emphasizes broad exposure and diversification among developed markets outside of the United States, economic sectors and issuers. This rules-based strategy utilizes targeted allocation and systematic rebalancing to take advantage of certain quantitative and behavioral characteristics of developed markets identified by the portfolio managers. The investment process is periodically re-evaluated and may be adjusted to ensure that the process is consistent with the Fund’s investment objective and strategies. The portfolio managers select and allocate across countries based on factors such as market capitalization, volatility, correlation to other markets, liquidity, and perceived risk and potential for growth. The Fund maintains a bias to broad inclusion; that is the Fund intends to allocate its portfolio holdings to more developed markets outside of the United States rather than fewer developed markets. Relative to capitalization-weighted country indexes, individual country allocation targets emphasize the less represented developed markets and attempts to reduce concentration risks relative to a capitalization-weighted index. The Fund’s country allocations are rebalanced to their target weights if they exceed a certain pre-determined overweight or fall below a certain pre-determined underweight. The frequency of rebalancing depends on the volatility and trading costs of the individual country. This has the effect of reducing exposure to countries with strong relative performance and increasing exposure to countries which have underperformed. The Fund seeks to maintain exposure across key economic sectors. Relative to capitalization-weighted country indexes, the portfolio managers target weights to these sectors to emphasize the less represented sectors. The portfolio managers use a quantitative model to select individual securities as representatives of their countries and economic sectors. The model includes factors such as beta, or a stock’s historical sensitivity to movements in the global equity market, with the objective of reducing portfolio risk and maintaining broad diversification.
Principal Risks.
The principal risks of investing in the Fund, which could adversely affect its net asset value, yield and total return, are market risk, equity securities risk, foreign investment risk, currency risk, smaller company risk, derivatives risk, ETF risk, liquidity risk, real estate risk, rules-based management risk, securities lending risk and general fund investing risks.