| Investment Objective: |
The Fund aims in constructing a portfolio of companies that exhibit a track record of moving through recessionary periods with little to minimal impact on aggregate earnings growth relative to the overall equity market. The Funds portfolio is composed of 50-120 U.S. exchange-listed companies with the highest stability in their historic and forecasted earnings per share (EPS). Historic EPS stability is determined by evaluating the variability of the companys EPS over the past 20 years. Forecasted EPS stability is determined by evaluating the forecasted variability of the companys earnings over the next 3 years. Those companies with the least variability are selected for the Funds portfolio. The Advisor selects the Funds portfolio securities from a universe of the top 250 equity securities listed in the U.S. equity market that are not in the Financial, Energy, Utility, Precious Metal, and Commodity sectors, plus the top 150 equity securities in the Industrials sector, which may be a combination of large, mid, and small capitalization companies. The Advisor then selects 200 companies based on the qualitative judgment of the portfolio manager. The 50-120 companies with the highest historic and forecasted EPS stability are then selected for the Funds portfolio. |