International Equity FundAIEIXShare Class

investment strategy / process

The Allegiant International Equity Fund seeks long-term capital appreciation by investing in common stocks of foreign issues.  Using a unique dual manager approach, the Fund’s assets are allocated equally between growth and value strategies, and are managed by the Fund’s adviser (Allegiant Asset Management) and sub-adviser (Polaris Capital Management) respectively.  The growth portion integrates a bottom-up systematic approach to security selection and top-down country allocation framework, targeting companies with sustainable earnings and accelerating revenue growth, high quality balance sheets and strong management teams.  Emphasis is given to companies in developed markets with long-term growth potential and attractive valuations.  The value component is managed utilizing an all-cap approach and bottom-up analysis, anchored by a proprietary “Global Cost of Equity” to determine portfolio holdings.

The Fund invests in equity securities tied economically to a number of countries throughout the world.  It limits investments in securities of issuers in countries with developing markets to no more than 25% of the Fund’s total assets.  More than 25% of the Fund’s assets may be invested in the equity securities of issuers located in the same country.

 Growth Process
  • Begins by using a proprietary 12-factor model to determine companies with strong sustainable earnings and accelerating revenue growth.
  • Country allocation framework guides portfolio towards stocks in countries exhibiting reasonable valuations, low risk and strong economic growth.
  • Fundamental review confirms outputs at security and country levels.
  • Portfolio managed within pre-defined risk guidelines which ensure diversification across countries, sectors and securities. 
Value Process
  • Employs a proprietary five-factor global model to rank countries and industries on attractiveness.
  • Identifies companies with undervalued streams of sustainable cash flows.
  • Performs fundamental analysis to determine future cash flows and risk of investment.
  • Diversifies portfolio with exposure to 15 or more countries and industries.   



Investment Risk

International investments are subject to special risks not ordinarily associated with domestic investments, including currency fluctuations, economic and political change, and differing accounting standards that may adversely affect portfolio securities. These risks may be heightened in emerging markets.

*Sector weightings and top ten holdings are subject to change, for illustrative purposes only and are not a permanent reflection of the fund.

Asset Allocation (%)
EQUITY 90.01
CASH EQUIVALENTS & OTHER 10.01
Asset Allocation weightings may not total 100%
Country Weightings (%)
Japan 23.29
Other Countries 21.69
United Kingdom 13.35
Switzerland 9.27
Cash & Cash Equivalents 7.44
Germany 6.61
Australia 3.96
Ireland 3.59
Finland 3.24
South Korea 2.68
Spain 2.48
France 2.40
Portfolio Management
Martin C. Schulz, J.D.
Managing Director, International Equity
Bernard R. Horn Jr.
President and Chief Investment Officer, Polaris Capital Management
Sumanta Biswas, CFA
Vice President and Assistant Portfolio Manager, Polaris Capital Management
Richard V. Howe
Account Manager and Analyst, Polaris Capital Management, LLC
Bin Xiao
Analyst, Polaris Capital Management, LLC
Andry Sutanto
Analyst, Polaris Capital Management, LLC
Downloads
Fund Factsheet 
Product Brochure
Prospectus