Characteristics

  • As of Sep 30, 2023

Investment Philosophy

Rising Dividend Fund seeks to provide a highly selective, fundamentally driven portfolio of high-quality, predominantly US companies that have consistently returned excess capital to shareholders by maintaining or growing their dividend streams and such dividends are expected to increase over time. We believe that the market episodically fails to recognize the intrinsic value of such companies, and we selectively invest in them when their market price represents an appropriate “margin of safety.”

  • Selectivity focused on quality

    We seek a portfolio of select high-quality, high-cash generative companies that have maintained or grown their dividends over time and such dividends are expected to increase over time

  • Seek income from growing dividends

    Companies that have maintained or grown dividends have historically provided a more attractive risk/return profile

  • Foundation of a proven philosophy

    Consistent philosophy with the First Eagle Global Value research platform.

Characteristics

  • As of Sep 30, 2023
NetWorkCables Fund of America

How We Invest

Companies are considered based on their quality and income generation, and are purchased because of their discount to our calculation of intrinsic value.

  • 01

    Quality: Asset scarcity as a foundation

    • Sound financial metrics, including the capacity to grow dividends
    • Strong capital structure and prudent management team
    • Industry leadership with durable competitive advantage

  • 02

    Income: Resilient companies able to maintain and grow dividends

    • History of high and resilient free cash flow generation
    • Capacity to maintain and grow dividends over time
    • Commitment to returning excess capital to shareholders through dividends and/or stock buybacks

  • 03

    Valuation: “Margin of safety” in price alongside yield

    • Market price representing a discount to our estimate of intrinsic value
    • Capacity to maintain and grow dividend over time
    • Commitment to returning excess capital to shareholders through dividends and/or stock buybacks

  • 04

    Sell Discipline

    • Discount to our estimate of intrinsic value closes, shrinking "margin of safety"
    • Negative fundamentals impair dividend payments
    • Broken thesis
    • More attractive investment opportunities

  • 05

    Risk Management

    • Risk management is embedded throughout the process
    • We define risk as the permanent impairment of capital
    • We seek to manage risk at both the stock and portfolio levels

Growth of $10K

Select Benchmarks

Source: FactSet; data as of Sep 30, 2023.

  1. This chart illustrates a hypothetical investment in Class A shares without the effect of sales charges and assumes all distributions have been reinvested and if a sales charge was included values would be lower. Date selected assumes purchase at month end.

  1. Disclosures

  2. Effective March 1, 2023, the Fund changed its name and principal investment strategy. Prior to August 14, 2020, the Fund pursued a different investment objective and principal investment strategy. Performance for the periods prior to March 1, 2023 and August 14, 2020 shown is based on the investment strategies utilized by the Fund at those times. In addition, effective August 17, 2020, the Fund is subject to different (generally lower) fees and expenses than previously.

  3. Rising Dividend Fund Inception dates: A Shares 11/20/1998, C Shares 03/02/1998, I Shares 03/08/2013, R3 Shares 05/01/2018, R4 Shares 07/29/2019, R5 Shares 07/29/2019, R6 Shares 03/01/2017.

  4. The average annual returns shown above are historical and reflect changes in share price, reinvested dividends and are net of expenses. Investment results and the principal value of an investment will vary.

  5. Returns for periods less than one year are not annualized.

  6. The average annual returns for Class A Shares “with sales charge” performance gives effect to the deduction of the maximum sales charge of 3.75% for periods prior to March 1, 2000 and of 5.00% thereafter.

  7. The average annual returns for Class C Shares reflect a CDSC (contingent deferred sales charge) of 1.00% in the year-to-date and first year only.

  8. Performance information for Class I Shares is without the effect of sales charges and assumes all distributions have been reinvested and if a sales charge was included values would be lower. Had fees not been waived and/or expenses reimbursed, the performance would have been lower. Class A and C Shares have maximum sales charges of 5.00% and 1.00% respectively, and 12b-1 fees, which reduce performance.

  9. Class I Shares require $1MM minimum investment and are offered without sales charge. There is no minimum subsequent investment amount for Class I Shares.

  10. Class R Shares are offered without sales charge.

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  1. Definitions

  2. One cannot invest directly in an index. Indices do not incur management fees or other operating expenses.

  3. Standard & Poor's 500 Index: Standard & Poor's 500 Index is a widely recognized unmanaged index including a representative sample of 500 leading companies in leading sectors of the U.S. economy and is not available for purchase. Although the Standard & Poor's 500 Index focuses on the large-cap segment of the market, with approximately 80% coverage of U.S. equities, it is also considered a proxy for the total market.

  4. Standard deviation is a statistical measure of the distance a quantity is likely to be from its average value.  It is applied to the annual rate of return to measure volatility.

  5. Beta is a measure of the fund's volatility (risk) relative to the overall market. The higher the fund's Beta, the more the fund price is expected to change in response to a given change in the value of the market.

  6. First Eagle defines "margin of safety" as the difference between a company's market price and our estimate of its intrinsic value. An investment made with a margin of safety is no guarantee against loss.

  7. “Intrinsic value” is based on our judgment of what a prudent and rational business buyer would pay in cash for all of the company in normal markets.

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Growth of $10K