Polen U.S. SMID Company Growth Fund – Institutional

Active Share
93.9%
Downside Capture
117.61%
Inception Date
04-01-2021

Investment Objective

Our U.S. SMID Company Growth Fund seeks to achieve long-term growth of capital by building a concentrated portfolio of competitively advantaged businesses with the potential for sustainable, above-average earnings growth.

Why Invest in Polen U.S. SMID Company Growth?

  • U.S. growth fund with a strong emphasis on sustainable earnings growth
  • Focus on companies with high returns on capital and double-digit total returns
  • Concentrated portfolio of approximately 30 high-quality growth companies
  • Low portfolio turnover with long-term holding periods

A High Conviction & Quality Approach

We believe that consistent earnings growth is the primary driver of intrinsic value and long-term stock appreciation. We seek to invest in companies with a durable earnings profile driven by a sustainable competitive advantage, financial strength, sound Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) practices, proven management teams, and powerful products/services. By thinking and investing like a business owner and taking a long-term investment approach, we believe we can preserve capital and provide stability across market cycles.

Product Profile

Number of holdings 25-40
Style Growth
Benchmark Russell 2500 Growth

Experience in High Quality Growth Investing

Rayna Lesser Hannaway, CFA
Head of Team, Portfolio Manager & Analyst, Small Company Growth
27 years of experience
Whitney Young Crawford
Portfolio Manager, Director of Research & Analyst, Small Company Growth
16 years of experience

Fund Performance – Institutional Shares (%)

Returns are presented net of management fees and include the reinvestment of all income. The performance data quoted represents past performance and does not guarantee future results. Current performance may be lower or higher. Performance data current to the most recent month end may be obtained by calling 1-888-678-6024. The investment return and principal value of an investment will fluctuate so that shares, when redeemed, may be worth more or less than their original cost. Performance would have been lower without fee waivers in effect. Data shown (%) as of recent calendar quarter end. Periods over one-year are annualized. Since inception results are from 04-01-2021. Gross expense ratios as of the most recent prospectus are 4.58% for Institutional and 4.83% for Investor Shares. Polen Capital Management has contractually agreed to reduce its fees or reimburse the Fund’s operating expenses in order to limit the total annual operating expenses. Total returns would be lower had such fees and expenses not been waived and/or reimbursed. This agreement will terminate on 04-30-2023, unless the Board of Trustees approves an earlier termination. 

Portfolio Statistics*

*Since inception

Risk & Returns (%)*

*Since inception

Hypothetical Growth of $10,000 – Institutional Shares*

Returns are presented net of management fees and include the reinvestment of all income. The performance data quoted represents past performance and does not guarantee future results. The chart pictured above depicts how an investment of $10,000 would have grown from inception through the recent calendar quarter end, based on the actual performance of the Fund over the same period.

Share Class Details

Morningstar

Morningstar Sustainability Rating™ out of 1,599 US Equity Mid Cap funds as of 5-31-23. Based on 97% of AUM. Data is based on long positions only.

Polen Capital compensates Morningstar with a subscription fee that enables Polen Capital to access Morningstar databases; however, Polen Capital does not specifically pay Morningstar to obtain the ratings set forth above. US Equity Mid Cap Category: category portfolios invest primarily in medium-sized U.S. companies or invest in a mix or small-, mid-, and large-cap stocks. The U.S. mid-cap range for market capitalization typically falls between $1 billion-$8 billion and represents 20% of the total capitalization of the U.S. equity market.

The Morningstar Sustainability Rating calculation is a three-step process. First, each fund with at least 67% of assets covered by a company-level ESG score from Sustainalytics receives a Morningstar Portfolio Sustainability Score. The Morningstar Portfolio Sustainability Score is an asset-weighted average of normalized company-level ESG scores with deductions made for controversial incidents by the issuing companies, such as environmental accidents, fraud, or discriminatory behavior. The Portfolio Sustainability Score ranges between O to 100, with a higher score indicating that a fund has, on average, more of its assets invested in companies that score well after normalization and controversy-level deductions are applied. Second, the Historical Sustainability Score is an exponential weighted moving average of the Portfolio Sustainability Scores over the past 12 months. The process rescales the current Portfolio Sustainability Score to reflect the consistency of the scores. The Historical Sustainability Score ranges between O to 100, with a higher score indicating that a fund has, on average, more of its assets invested in companies that score well after normalization and controversy-level deductions are applied, on a consistent historical basis. Third, the Morningstar Sustainability Rating is then assigned to all scored funds within Morningstar Global Categories in which at least thirty (30) funds receive a Historical Sustainability Score and is determined by each fund’s Morningstar Sustainability Rating Score rank within the following distribution: High (highest 10%); Above Average (next 22.5%); Average (next 35%); Below Average (next 22.5%); and Low (lowest 10%). The Morningstar Sustainability Rating is depicted by global icons where High equals 5 globes and Low equals 1 globe. The Morningstar Sustainability Rating is depicted by globe icons where High equals 5 globes and Low equals 1 globe. Since a Sustainability Rating is assigned to all funds that meet the above criteria, the rating it is not limited to funds with explicit sustainable or responsible investment mandates. Morningstar updates its Sustainability Ratings monthly. Portfolios receive a Morningstar Portfolio Sustainability Score and Sustainability Rating one month and six business days after their reported as-of date based on the most recent portfolio. As part of the evaluation process, Morningstar uses Sustainalytics’ ESG scores from the same month as the portfolio as-of date. Sustainalytics is an independent ESG and corporate governance research, ratings, and analysis firm and is not an affiliated company of Morningstar, Inc. Past performance does not guarantee future results.

©2023 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. The information contained herein: (1) is proprietary to Morningstar; (2) may not be copied or distributed; and (3) is not warranted to be accurate, complete or timely. Neither Morningstar nor its content providers are responsible for any damages or losses arising from any use of this information.

Top 10 Holdings (% of Portfolio)

Active Share

GICS Sector Exposure (% of Portfolio)

Portfolio Characteristics

Holdings are subject to change. The top holdings, as well as other data, are as of the period indicated and should not be considered a recommendation to purchase, hold, or sell any particular security. There is no assurance that any of the securities noted will remain in a portfolio at the time you receive this fact sheet. Actual holding and percentage allocation in individual client portfolios may vary and are subject to change. It should not be assumed that any of the holdings discussed were or will prove to be profitable or that the investment recommendations or decisions we make in the future will be profitable. A list of all securities held in this portfolio in the prior year is available upon request.

Active Share: a measure of the percentage of stock holdings in a manager’s portfolio that differ from the benchmark index. Alpha: the excess return of an investment relative to the return of the benchmark. Annual Turnover: percentage of the portfolio holdings that have been replaced in a given year. Beta: the measure of systemic risk of a portfolio in comparison to the market as a whole. Downside Capture: a statistical measure of overall performance relative to a benchmark during declining markets. Est. 3-5 year Earnings Growth: a Polen Capital estimate of projected long-term earnings growth rates. GICS Sectors: The Global Industry Classification Standard (GICS) is a system for categorizing every public company by economic sector and industry group. Information Ratio: a measurement of portfolio returns relative to a given benchmark. P/E Forward: denotes the weighted harmonic average of all the P/E’s of the securities in the fund’s portfolio. Return on Invested Capital: assesses a company’s efficiency at allocating capital and is measured by operating profit after taxes divided by investment capital. Risk-Adjusted Return: a calculation of the profit or potential profit from an investment that considers the degree of risk that must be accepted in order to achieve it. Sharpe Ratio: a ratio of the return on an investment relative to its risk. Standard Deviation: measurement of the dispersion or volatility of investment returns relative to its mean or average. Total Debt to Total Capital: measures the total amount of outstanding company debt as a percentage of the firm’s total capitalization. Upside Capture: a statistical measure of overall performance relative to a benchmark during rising markets. Weighted Average Market Cap: a weighted average of the price of each security multiplied by the number of shares outstanding for all the securities in the portfolio.

The Russell 2500® Growth Index is a market capitalization weighted index that measures the performance of the small to mid-cap growth segment of the U.S. equity universe. It includes Russell 2500® companies with higher price-to-book ratios and higher forecasted growth values. The index is maintained by the FTSE Russell, a subsidiary of the London Stock Exchange Group. It is impossible to invest directly in an index. The performance of an index does not reflect any transaction costs, management fees, or taxes.

ESG Risk: The Adviser integrates material environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors into research analysis as part of a comprehensive evaluation of a company’s long-term financial sustainability. The risk that the investment techniques and risk analyses applied by the investment adviser, including but not limited to the Adviser’s integration of ESG factors into its research analysis, will not produce the desired results and that legislative, regulatory, or tax developments may affect the investment techniques available to the investment adviser and the individual portfolio manager in connection with managing the Fund. There is no guarantee that the investment objective of the Fund will be achieved.

Mutual fund investing involves risk, including possible loss of principal. The Fund is non-diversified, which means that a large portion of the Fund’s assets may be invested in one or few companies or sectors. The Fund could fluctuate in value more than a diversified fund. Small- and mid-capitalization companies tend to have limited liquidity and greater price volatility than large capitalization companies.

Investors should consider the investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses of the Polen U.S. SMID Company Growth Fund carefully before investing. A prospectus with this and other information about the Fund may be obtained by calling 1-888-678-6024 or visiting the Materials tab. It should be read carefully before investing.

All performance is calculated in US Dollars. The performance data quoted represents past performance and does not guarantee future results. Current performance may be lower or higher. Returns are presented net of management fees and include the reinvestment of all income.

Polen Funds are distributed by Foreside Funds Distributors LLC., not affiliated with Polen Capital Management.