Diversified exposure to emerging markets, seeking to capture value and growth

The Fund normally invests at least 80% of its total assets in equity securities of companies located in emerging (less developed) markets and other investments that are tied economically to emerging markets. Generally these investments include common stock, preferred and preference stock, American Depositary Receipts, European Depositary Receipts, Global Depositary Receipts, and exchange-traded funds (“ETFs”) that invest in emerging markets securities.

Causeway uses a quantitative investment approach to purchase and sell investments for the Fund. Causeway’s proprietary computer model analyzes a variety of factors to assist in selecting securities. The model currently analyzes factors relating to valuation, sentiment, technical indicators, macroeconomics, currency, and country-sector aggregate.

YTD Return*
-0.83%
Nav*
$10.79, +0.09
Inception
March 30, 2007
Cusip
149498107
Benchmark
MSCI Emerging Markets
Minimum Investment
$1,000,000
Sales Charge
None
Gross Expense Ratio
1.16%
Net Expense Ratio
1.11%
*As of January 17, 2025
**Contractual fee waivers are in effect until 1/31/2025.

Strategy overview

The portfolio managers discuss our Emerging Markets strategy.

Portfolio managers

Quantitative Portfolio Manager
Head of Quantitative Research
Quantitative Portfolio Manager
Quantitative Portfolio Manager
Quantitative Portfolio Manager

Performance

QTD YTD 1 year3 years5 years10 years Since inception
Fund -5.9%14.9%14.9%1.2%3.7%3.9%4.2%
MSCI Emerging Markets -7.8%8.1%8.1%-1.5%2.1%4.0%3.7%
QTD YTD 1 year3 years5 years10 years Since inception
Fund -5.9%14.9%14.9%1.2%3.7%3.9%4.2%
MSCI Emerging Markets -7.8%8.1%8.1%-1.5%2.1%4.0%3.7%
QTD YTD 1 year3 years5 years10 years Since inception
Fund -5.9%14.9%14.9%1.2%3.7%3.9%4.2%
MSCI Emerging Markets -7.8%8.1%8.1%-1.5%2.1%4.0%3.7%
QTD YTD 1 year3 years5 years10 years Since inception
Fund -5.9%14.9%14.9%1.2%3.7%3.9%4.2%
MSCI Emerging Markets -7.8%8.1%8.1%-1.5%2.1%4.0%3.7%
20242023202220212020201920182017201620152014201320122011201020092008
Fund 14.9%17.2%-23.0%-1.3%16.9%16.7%-17.9%39.8%9.2%-16.0%2.1%-2.6%25.8%-18.1%26.3%88.1%-58.4%
MSCI Emerging Markets 8.1%10.3%-19.7%-2.2%18.7%18.9%-14.2%37.8%11.6%-14.6%-1.8%-2.3%18.6%-18.2%19.2%79.0%-53.2%
Fund
MSCI Emerging Markets
20242023202220212020201920182017201620152014201320122011201020092008
14.9%17.2%-23.0%-1.3%16.9%16.7%-17.9%39.8%9.2%-16.0%2.1%-2.6%25.8%-18.1%26.3%88.1%-58.4%
8.1%10.3%-19.7%-2.2%18.7%18.9%-14.2%37.8%11.6%-14.6%-1.8%-2.3%18.6%-18.2%19.2%79.0%-53.2%

Portfolio (as of December 31, 2024)

Benchmark: MSCI Emerging Markets
Asset Allocation
Fund
Stocks 98.3%
Cash 1.7%
Fund Characteristics
Fund Benchmark
No. of holdings 184 1252
Weighted avg. market cap (US $MM) $134,283 $128,869
NTM price/earnings 8.6 11.9
Price/book value 1.4 1.8
NTM EPS revision (wtd. avg) 14.6 2.3
Net assets $1,586,776,268 -
TOP 10 ACTIVE HOLDINGS
Security Country Active weight*
China Construction Bank Corp. China 2.1%
REC Ltd. India 1.6%
Kia Corp. South Korea 1.4%
Ping An China 1.3%
Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd. Taiwan 1.2%
Tencent Holdings Ltd. China 1.0%
Cosco Shipping Holdings Co China 0.9%
Shriram Finance Ltd. India 0.9%
Qifu Technology. Inc. China 0.8%
Aurobindo Pharma Ltd. India 0.8%

A "weighted average” measures a characteristic by the market capitalization of each stock. Price/book value is the weighted average of the price/book values of all the stocks in a portfolio. The P/B value of a company is calculated by dividing the market price of its stock by the company’s per-share book value. The price/earnings ratio is the weighted average of the price/earnings ratios of the stocks in a portfolio. “Earnings-per-share” is the portion of a company’s profit allocated to each outstanding share of common stock. “Earnings-per-share year-over-year estimate growth (next 12 months)” is the average next-12-month earnings-per-share estimate from one year ago for an individual company compared with that estimate today; note that this calculation is done on a company-by-company basis and is aggregated through a weighted average based on the individual company’s weight in the corresponding index. Also note that this characteristic is supplied directly by MSCI.

*Active defined as Fund weight minus MSCI EM Index weight. Holdings are subject to change.

SECTOR WEIGHTS
Sector Fund Benchmark
Information Technology 23.7% 24.3%
Financials 19.8% 23.7%
Consumer Discretionary 13.8% 13.1%
Industrials 11.1% 6.6%
Communication Services 9.9% 9.4%
Health Care 6.1% 3.4%
Materials 3.8% 5.7%
Equity Funds 3.3% 0.0%
Energy 2.5% 4.6%
Utilities 2.0% 2.7%
Real Estate 1.2% 1.7%
Consumer Staples 1.1% 4.8%
TOP 10 COUNTRIES
Country Fund Benchmark
China 29.8% 27.8%
Taiwan 22.9% 19.7%
India 19.4% 19.4%
South Korea 12.7% 9.0%
Brazil 2.7% 4.1%
Indonesia 1.5% 1.5%
Turkey 1.5% 0.7%
Saudi Arabia 1.4% 4.2%
Malaysia 1.3% 1.5%
United Arab Emirates 1.2% 1.4%
Regional Allocation
  • Emerging Asia 88.7%
  • Emerging Europe, Middle East, Africa 5.6%
  • Emerging Latin America 3.4%
  • Pacific 0.6%

Commentary (As of December 31, 2024)

Highlights

  • EM equities appreciated in local currency terms in December, concluding a calendar year of positive performance.
  • In South Korea, the country’s parliament impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol in December after he attempted to impose martial law. Korea’s parliament then impeached his replacement, Han Duck-soo, two weeks later, replacing him with finance minister Choi Sang-mok as acting president. Despite these near-term political challenges, we remain overweight South Korean stocks in the Fund, due in part to compelling valuations. We believe the country’s Value Up initiative will continue as it is supported by both leading political parties in the country.
  • In China, authorities have continued to discuss supporting the country’s economy and markets. The communication from the December politburo meeting indicated moderately accommodative monetary policy and emphasized the need to stabilize China’s property market. At its Central Economic Work Conference (CEWC), authorities pledged to increase the budget deficit, issue more debt, and loosen monetary policy to support the economy. We are modestly overweight Chinese stocks in the Fund, due in part to attractive valuations.

Portfolio attribution

The Causeway Emerging Markets Fund (“Fund”), on a net asset value basis, outperformed the Index in December 2024. We use both bottom-up “stock-specific” and top-down factor categories to seek to forecast alpha for the stocks in the Fund’s investable universe. Our bottom-up technical (price momentum), competitive strength, valuation, growth, and corporate events factors were positive indicators in December. Our top-down macroeconomic and county/sector aggregate factors were also positive indicators, while our currency factor was a negative indicator during the month.

Quarterly Investment Outlook

In the US, Donald Trump won the presidential election on a platform of higher tariffs and tighter immigration policies and the implications for EM assets are nuanced. Higher tariffs should be negative for EM as it is an export-oriented asset class. However, the incoming Trump administration's policies may cause higher structural inflation and greater US fiscal deficits, leading to a weaker US dollar in the medium to long-term, which could bolster EM assets. In South Korea, the country’s parliament impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol in December after he attempted to impose martial law. Korea’s parliament then impeached his replacement, Han Duck-soo, two weeks later, replacing him with finance minister Choi Sang-mok as acting president. Despite these near-term political challenges, we remain overweight South Korean stocks in the Fund, due in part to compelling valuations. We believe the country’s Value Up initiative will continue as it is supported by both leading political parties in the country. In China, authorities have continued to discuss supporting the country’s economy and markets. The communication from the December politburo meeting indicated moderately accommodative monetary policy and emphasized the need to stabilize China’s property market. At its Central Economic Work Conference (CEWC), authorities pledged to increase the budget deficit, issue more debt, and loosen monetary policy to support the economy. We are modestly overweight Chinese stocks in the Fund, due in part to attractive valuations.

The market commentary expresses the portfolio managers’ views as of the date of this report and should not be relied on as research or investment advice regarding any stock. These views and the Fund holdings and characteristics are subject to change. There is no guarantee that any forecasts made will come to pass. Any securities identified and described in this report do not represent all of the securities purchased, sold or recommended for client accounts. The reader should not assume that an investment in the securities identified was or will be profitable. Diversification does not protect against market loss. Current and future holdings are subject to risk. The Fund may invest in derivatives, which are often more volatile than other investments and may magnify the Fund's gains or losses. Investing in ETFs is subject to the risks of the underlying funds. International and emerging markets investments may involve risk of capital loss from unfavorable fluctuation in currency values, from differences in generally accepted accounting principles or from social, economic or political instability in other nations. Emerging markets and smaller companies involve additional risks and higher volatility.

Distributions

Dividends Short-term capital gains Long-term capital gains
2023 $0.4762 $0.0000 $0.0000
2022 $0.4290 $0.0000 $0.0000
2021 $0.3956 $0.0000 $2.4046
2020 $0.2052 $0.0000 $0.0000
2019 $0.2650 $0.0000 $0.0000
2018 $0.2296 $0.0000 $0.0000
2017 $0.2232 $0.0000 $0.0000
2016 $0.1597 $0.0000 $0.0000
2015 $0.1620 $0.0000 $0.0000
2014 $0.2775 $0.0000 $0.0000
2013 $0.0825 $0.0000 $0.0000
2012 $0.2526 $0.0000 $0.0000
2011 $0.0778 $0.0000 $0.0000
2010 $0.2451 $0.0000 $0.0000
2009 $0.2830 $0.0000 $0.0000
2008 $0.1186 $0.0000 $0.0000
2007 $0.2002 $0.4003 $0.0000

Distributions are per share. Distribution amounts are based on gains and losses realized and income earned by the Fund through October 31 (or earlier under certain circumstances).

Documents

Fund information:

Forms: