U.S. Core Equities

U.S. Core Equities

Following a disciplined approach:

• We believe that investing in high quality companies with strong balance sheets, consistent results and competitive advantages will outperform other investment strategies over the long run.
• We focus on a disciplined investment process to buy what we deem to be "wealth building" companies - firms that can consistently grow shareholder value over sustained periods of time. We are long-term investors who place a great emphasis on fundamental research. We do not believe in market timing, but cash may be held as a residual to the security selection process.
• We further seek to minimize risk by placing a valuation overlay on our investment process. We recognize that great companies are not always great investments and seek to avoid this pitfall by rigorously modeling the prices we pay for securities.

Core equities portfolio characteristics:

• Consistently high returns on shareholder's equity
• Strong cash flow and earnings profile
• Attractive growth prospects
• High returns on invested capital
• Quality - solid balance sheets
• Proven management
• Established competitive position
• Reasonable valuation for growth rate