Ms. Ketterer is the chief executive officer at Causeway, fundamental portfolio manager, and is responsible for investment research across all sectors. Ms. Ketterer co-founded the firm in June 2001 and is a member of the operating committee. 

From 1996 to 2001, Ms. Ketterer worked for the Hotchkis & Wiley division of Merrill Lynch Investment Managers (HW-MLIM). At HW-MLIM, she was a managing director and co-head of the firm's HW-MLIM International and Global Value team. From 1990 to 1996, Ms. Ketterer was a portfolio manager at Hotchkis & Wiley, where she founded the International Equity product.

Ms. Ketterer earned a BA in economics and political science from Stanford University and an MBA from the Tuck School, Dartmouth College. She is currently a member of the Stanford University Board of Trustees, co-chair of the Los Angeles World Affairs Council and Town Hall, a director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Music Center Foundation (as chair of the investment committee), and serves on the Girls Who Invest President’s Council.

Mr. Hartford is the president at Causeway, fundamental portfolio manager, and head of fundamental research. Mr. Hartford co-founded the firm in June 2001 and is a member of the operating committee. 
 
From 1996 to June 2001, Mr. Hartford was a managing director for the Hotchkis & Wiley division of Merrill Lynch Investment Managers (HW-MLIM) and co-head of the firm's HW-MLIM international and global value team. From 1994 to 1996, Mr. Hartford was a portfolio manager for Hotchkis and Wiley. From 1984 to 1994, Mr. Hartford was with The Investment Bank of Ireland, where he gained ten years’ experience in both international and global equity management. During this time, Mr. Hartford also managed the Irish Investment Fund, a closed-end country fund quoted on the NYSE. Before entering the investment business, Mr. Hartford lectured in micro and macroeconomics at Oklahoma State University.

Mr. Hartford earned a BA, with honors, in economics from the University of Dublin, Trinity College, an MSc in economics from Oklahoma State University, and is a Phi Kappa Phi member. Mr. Hartford is a member of The Ireland Funds America Board of Directors and serves as chair of the Los Angeles Regional Board.

Portfolio attribution

Causeway International Opportunities Fund (“Fund”) outperformed the Index during the month, due primarily to stock selection. Fund holdings in the transportation, banks, and materials industry groups, as well as an underweight position in the telecommunication services and utilities industry groups, contributed to performance relative to the Index. Holdings in the technology hardware & equipment, capital goods, and media & entertainment industry groups, along with an underweight position in the retailing and commercial & professional services industry groups, offset some of the outperformance versus the Index. The top contributor to return was automobile manufacturer, Volkswagen AG (Germany). Other notable contributors included internet commerce company, Alibaba Group Holding (China), financial services provider, ING Groep NV (Netherlands), diversified chemicals manufacturer, BASF SE (Germany), and mail, express & logistics services provider, Deutsche Post AG (Germany). The largest detractor from performance was e-commerce retailer, Vipshop Holdings (China). Additional notable detractors included electronic equipment manufacturer, Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. (South Korea), semiconductor engineer, MediaTek, Inc. (Taiwan), electronic components manufacturer, Murata Manufacturing Co., Ltd.(Japan), and bank, BBVA SA (Spain).

We use a proprietary quantitative equity allocation model that assists the portfolio managers in determining the weight of emerging versus developed markets in the Fund. Our allocation relative to the weight of emerging markets in the Index is currently overweight. We identify five primary factors as most indicative of the ideal allocation target: valuation, quality, earnings growth, macroeconomic, and risk aversion. Valuation is currently negative for emerging markets in our model. Our quality metrics, which include such measures as profit margins and return on equity, are positive. Our earnings growth factor is positive, while our macroeconomic factor is neutral for emerging markets. Lastly, our risk aversion factor is negative in our model.

Investment outlook

The COVID-19 pandemic continues to upend normal routines, and for longer than initially anticipated. Yet strong equity returns in August—notably in economically cyclical stocks—appeared to reflect investors’ exuberance for a potential COVID-19 vaccine. We are convinced that with a safe and widely available vaccine, many of the changed behaviors due to the virus will revert and provide a significant revenue boost to companies in the epicenter of COVID-19 restrictions, such as companies in the travel and leisure, aviation, and aerospace industries. We believe a vaccine (and in the meantime, effective therapies) could catalyze an unwinding of the massive premium afforded to growth stocks—particularly high-flying technology companies—that benefit from COVID-19 trends. Despite the prolonged market environment favoring growth stocks, we continue to identify companies that are taking advantage of the crisis to cut costs and improve efficiency. From a fundamental perspective, we remain focused on thoroughly assessing the balance sheet strength of our portfolio companies to ensure they can withstand the drop in revenues until the recovery firmly takes hold. Given the uncertainty on the timing of a viable COVID-19 vaccine, we recognize the diminished visibility on near-term earnings. We anticipate some of the greatest upside potential in companies in oligopolistic industry structures (offering pricing power) with strong moats against competition. Finally, though our investment horizon remains long-term, heightened stock price volatility translates to prices moving faster in this market dislocation. Valuation matters. We remain disciplined on the price we are willing to pay for stocks in the fund that provide, in our view, the best risk-adjusted return potential.

Uncertainty surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic has continued to weigh on EM value stocks. After underperforming again in August, the MSCI Emerging Markets Value Index has lagged the MSCI Emerging Markets Growth Index every month this year. Following a poor 2019, the MSCI Emerging Markets Value Index trails the MSCI Emerging Markets Growth Index by 27 percentage points on a local currency basis over the year-to-date period. The MSCI Emerging Markets Value Index is trading near historically wide discounts based on both price-to-earnings and price-to-book value ratios. We continue to emphasize value factors in our quantitative investment process and we believe that EM value stocks are poised to rebound once there is a reduction in COVID-19 uncertainty given the discount relative to EM growth stocks. A catalyst for value’s resurgence could be the dissemination of one or more COVID-19 vaccines, many of which are in Phase III trials.

Mr. Eng is a director and fundamental portfolio manager at Causeway and is responsible for investment research in the global consumer discretionary, industrials, and energy sectors. He joined the firm in July 2001 and has been a portfolio manager since February 2002.
 
From 1997 to 2001, Mr. Eng was an equity research associate for the Hotchkis and Wiley division of Merrill Lynch Investment Managers (HW-MLIM). In 1996, Mr. Eng worked as a summer research associate for Hotchkis and Wiley, performing U.K. and European equity research. From 1993 to 1995, Mr. Eng analyzed merger and acquisition candidates at Slusser Associates. From 1990 to 1993, Mr. Eng worked as a middle market corporate lender for Bank of Boston.

Mr. Eng earned a BA in history and economics from Brandeis University and an MBA from the UCLA Anderson Graduate School of Management

Mr. Muldoon is a director and fundamental portfolio manager at Causeway and is responsible for investment research in the global financials and materials sectors. He joined the firm in August 2003 and has been a portfolio manager since September 2010. He is also a member of the operating committee.
 
From 1995 to 2003, Mr. Muldoon was an investment consultant for Fidelity Investments where he served as a liaison between institutional clients and investment managers within Fidelity. He was responsible for communicating current information on the financial markets, the economy and investment performance.

Mr. Muldoon earned a BSc and an MA from the University of Dublin, Trinity College and an MBA, with high honors, from the University of Chicago. Mr. Muldoon was inducted into the Beta Gamma Sigma honors society and is also a CFA charterholder.

Mr. Valentini is a director and fundamental portfolio manager at Causeway and is responsible for investment research in the global healthcare, financials, and materials sectors. He joined the firm in July 2006 and has been a portfolio manager since April 2013.
 
During the summer of 2005, Mr. Valentini worked as a research analyst at Thornburg Investment Management, where he conducted fundamental research for the International Value Fund and the Value Fund, focusing on the European telecommunication and Canadian oil sectors. From 2000 to 2004, Mr. Valentini worked as a financial analyst at Goldman Sachs in the European equities research-sales division in New York.

Mr. Valentini earned an MBA from Columbia Business School, with honors, an MA in economics from Georgetown University and a BS, magna cum laude, from Georgetown University. Mr. Valentini was inducted into the Beta Gamma Sigma honors society, is a Phi Beta Kappa member, and is a CFA charterholder.

Ms. Lee is a director and fundamental portfolio manager at Causeway and is responsible for investment research in the global consumer and utilities sectors. Prior to the current role, she also covered transportation and autos. She joined the firm in August 2007 and has been a portfolio manager since January 2015.
 
During the summer of 2006, Ms. Lee interned at Tiger Asia, a long short equity hedge fund focused on China, Japan, and Korea. From 2001 to 2004, Ms. Lee was an associate in the mergers and acquisitions division of Credit Suisse First Boston in Seoul, where she advised Korean corporates and multinational corporations. From 1999 to 2000, she was an analyst in the mergers and acquisitions division of Credit Suisse First Boston in Hong Kong.

Ms. Lee earned a BA in business administration from Seoul National University and an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business. She currently serves on the audit and investment committee at the Center for Early Education in West Hollywood.

Dr. Jayaraman is a director, quantitative portfolio manager and head of the quantitative research at Causeway and has been with the firm since January 2006. Dr. Jayaraman’s responsibilities and research include stock selection, asset allocation, risk model development, and portfolio construction.

From 2004 to 2005, Dr. Jayaraman was a portfolio manager at PanAgora Asset Management. He was the lead portfolio manager on the non-U.S. large cap core equity portfolios and was the co-portfolio manager on the global large cap core equity portfolios. From 2000 to 2004, Dr. Jayaraman managed the same portfolios at Putnam Investments, in addition to working closely with the teams that managed Putnam's traditional non-U.S. strategies. From 1998 to 2000, Dr. Jayaraman worked as a quantitative analyst at Harborview Trading Associates.

Dr. Jayaraman earned a PhD from New York University at the Stern School of Business and a BA in economics from Columbia University. Dr. Jayaraman is a CFA charterholder.

Mr. Kuhnert is a director and a quantitative portfolio manager at Causeway and has been with the firm since its inception in June 2001. Mr. Kuhnert’s responsibilities and research include stock selection, asset allocation, risk model development, and portfolio construction.
 
From 1996 to 2001, Mr. Kuhnert worked for the international team of the Hotchkis & Wiley division of Merrill Lynch Investment Managers (HW-MLIM) as a quantitative research associate. During his tenure at HW-MLIM, Mr. Kuhnert created and developed advanced quantitative models used in the international value investment process. He also helped develop the team’s first equity risk model.

Mr. Kuhnert earned a BA in chemistry from Dartmouth College. He is a CFA charterholder, a member of the CFA Society of Los Angeles, and a member of the Chicago Quantitative Alliance. Mr. Kuhnert co-authored “To Hedge or Not to Hedge: Factor Dependence and Skill among Hedge Funds” published in The Journal of Alternative Investments.

Mr. Gubler is a quantitative portfolio manager at Causeway. He joined the firm in 2005 and has been a portfolio manager since January 2014. In addition to managing quantitative portfolios and conducting alpha research, Mr. Gubler also leads the efforts to maintain and enhance Causeway’s proprietary risk models. He is also a member of the operating committee.

From 1999 to 2005, Mr. Gubler worked as a software engineer, with employers ranging from startups to established businesses such as Monster.com. From 1998 to 1999, Mr. Gubler worked as a staff scientist for News Corporation, conducting studies on the RF propagation of broadcast signals. While studying astrophysics at UC San Diego, Mr. Gubler worked as a graduate research assistant in the Jet Propulsion Laboratory's stellar interferometry group.

Mr. Gubler earned a BS, cum laude, in physics from UC Irvine, an MS in physics from UC San Diego, and an MBA from the UCLA Anderson Graduate School of Management. Mr. Gubler is a CFA charterholder.

Mr. Nguyen is a director and fundamental portfolio manager at Causeway and is responsible for investment research in the industrials, energy, utilities, and healthcare sectors. He joined the firm in April 2012 and has been a portfolio manager since January 2019.
 
From 2006 to 2012, Mr. Nguyen was a senior credit analyst at Bradford & Marzec covering high yield and investment grade companies in the telecommunication services, cable, media, gaming, insurance, and REIT industries. From 2003 to 2006, Mr. Nguyen was a credit analyst/portfolio manager in the corporate bond department of Allegiance Capital.

Mr. Nguyen earned a BA in business economics from Brown University and an MBA, with honors, from the UCLA Anderson School of Management. Mr. Nguyen was the president of the Anderson Student Asset Management association. Mr. Nguyen is a CFA charterholder.