AVEM

About AVEM

The fund invests primarily in a diverse group of companies related to emerging markets across market sectors, industry groups and countries. The fund may invest in companies of all market capitalizations. The fund seeks securities of companies that it expects to have higher returns by placing an enhanced emphasis on securities of companies with smaller market capitalizations and securities of companies with higher profitability and value characteristics. Conversely, the fund seeks to underweight or exclude securities it expects to have lower returns, such as securities of larger companies with lower levels of profitability and less attractive value characteristics. To identify small capitalization companies with higher profitability and value characteristics, the portfolio managers use reported and/or estimated company financials and market data including, but not limited to, shares outstanding, book value and its components, cash flows from operations, and accruals. The portfolio managers define “value characteristics” mainly as adjusted book/price ratio (though other price to fundamental ratios may be considered). The portfolio managers define “profitability” mainly as adjusted cash from operations to book value ratio (though other ratios may be considered). The portfolio managers may also consider other factors when selecting a security, including industry classification, the past performance of the security relative to other securities, its liquidity, its float, and tax, governance or cost considerations, among others. When portfolio managers identify securities with the desired capitalization, profitability, value, and past performance characteristics, they seek to include and emphasize these securities in the broadly diversified portfolio. To determine the weight of a security within the portfolio, the portfolio managers use the market capitalization of the security relative to that of other eligible securities as a baseline, then overweight or underweight the security based on the characteristics described above. The portfolio managers may deemphasize or dispose of a security if it no longer has the desired market capitalization, profitability, or value characteristics. When determining whether to deemphasize or dispose of a security, the portfolio managers will also consider, among other things, relative past performance, costs, and taxes. The portfolio managers review the criteria for inclusion in the portfolio on a regular basis to maintain a focus on the desired broad set of emerging markets companies. Under normal market conditions, the fund will invest at least 80% of its assets in equity securities of companies related to emerging market countries. The fund considers an emerging market country to be any country other than a developed country. However, the fund generally intends to focus its investments in a subset of the emerging markets countries that comprise the MSCI Emerging Markets IMI Index. The countries comprising the index will change from time to time, but as of September 30, 2024 include: Brazil, Chile, China, Colombia, Czech Republic, Egypt, Greece, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Korea, Kuwait, Malaysia, Mexico, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey and United Arab Emirates. To determine whether a company is related to an emerging market country, the portfolio managers will consider various factors, including where the company is headquartered, where the company’s principal operations are located, where a majority of the company’s revenues are derived, where the principal trading market is located, the country in which the company was legally organized, and whether the company is in the fund’s benchmark, the MSCI Emerging Markets IMI Index. The weight given to each of these factors will vary depending on the circumstances in a given case. The fund may invest in securities that are denominated in foreign currencies and may also invest in foreign securities that are represented in the U.S. and other securities markets by American Depositary Receipts (ADRs), Global Depositary Receipts (GDRs), and other similar depositary arrangements. The fund also may invest in derivative instruments such as futures contracts, currency forwards, and swap agreements. For example, the fund may use futures on securities and U.S. indices to gain exposure to equities to manage cash flows. The fund may also engage in securities lending and invest its collateral in eligible securities.The fund is an actively managed exchange-traded fund (ETF) that does not seek to replicate the performance of a specified index. The portfolio managers continually analyze market and financial data to make buy, sell, and hold decisions. When deciding whether to buy or sell a security, and how and when to implement a trade, the portfolio managers may consider the expected implementation costs and tax consequences of the trade in an attempt to gain trading efficiencies, avoid unnecessary risk, minimize tax impact, and/or enhance fund performance.