Seeking diversified exposure to international small cap companies

The Fund invests primarily in common stocks of companies with smaller market capitalizations located in developed and emerging markets outside the US. The Fund normally invests at least 80% of its total assets in equity securities of companies with smaller market capitalizations. Smaller market capitalization companies are companies with market capitalizations that do not exceed the highest market capitalization of a company within the Fund’s benchmark, the MSCI ACWI ex USA Small Cap Index (Gross), at the time of purchase. Some of these companies, although small by US standards, might be large companies in their local markets. The Fund may continue to hold securities of a portfolio company that appreciate above the smaller market capitalization threshold and thus may from time to time hold less than 80% of its total assets in equity securities of companies with smaller market capitalizations. The Fund may invest in a wide range of industries. The Fund’s investment objective is to seek long-term growth of capital.

YTD Return*
+11.78%
Nav*
$15.09, -0.04
Inception
October 20, 2014
Cusip
14949P703
Benchmark
MSCI ACWI ex USA Small Cap
Minimum Investment
$1,000,000
Sales Charge
None
Gross Expense Ratio
1.21%
Net Expense Ratio
1.10%
*As of May 20, 2025
**Contractual fee waivers are in effect until 1/31/2026.

Strategy overview

The portfolio managers discuss our International Small Cap strategy.

Portfolio managers

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

Performance

Table Header QTD YTD 1 year3 years5 years10 years Since inception
Fund 2.7%5.0%9.5%11.3%16.6%7.0%8.1%
MSCI ACWI ex USA Small Cap 4.8%5.6%8.8%5.4%10.8%5.6%6.4%
Table Header QTD YTD 1 year3 years5 years10 years Since inception
Fund 2.7%5.0%9.5%11.3%16.6%7.0%8.1%
MSCI ACWI ex USA Small Cap 4.8%5.6%8.8%5.4%10.8%5.6%6.4%
Table Header QTD YTD 1 year3 years5 years10 years Since inception
Fund 2.3%2.3%5.6%8.4%18.0%7.5%7.9%
MSCI ACWI ex USA Small Cap 0.8%0.8%2.4%1.5%12.3%5.8%6.0%
Table Header QTD YTD 1 year3 years5 years10 years Since inception
Fund 2.3%2.3%5.6%8.4%18.0%7.5%7.9%
MSCI ACWI ex USA Small Cap 0.8%0.8%2.4%1.5%12.3%5.8%6.0%
Table Header 2024202320222021202020192018201720162015
Fund 10.0%27.2%-11.3%21.6%2.7%18.8%-21.1%34.7%3.3%4.7%
MSCI ACWI ex USA Small Cap 3.9%16.2%-19.6%13.4%14.7%22.9%-17.9%32.1%4.3%3.0%
Table Header
Fund
MSCI ACWI ex USA Small Cap
2024202320222021202020192018201720162015
10.0%27.2%-11.3%21.6%2.7%18.8%-21.1%34.7%3.3%4.7%
3.9%16.2%-19.6%13.4%14.7%22.9%-17.9%32.1%4.3%3.0%

Portfolio (as of April 30, 2025)

Benchmark: MSCI ACWI ex USA Small Cap
Asset Allocation
Table Header Fund
Stocks 98.6%
Cash 1.4%
Fund Characteristics
Table Header Fund Benchmark
No. of holdings 165 4137
Weighted avg. market cap (US $MM) $2,939 $2,268
FY2 price/earnings 8.0 11.8
Price/book value 0.9 1.3
Net assets $191,441,279 -
TOP 10 ACTIVE HOLDINGS
Security Country Active weight*
Unipol Gruppo SpA Italy 2.0%
JB Hi-Fi Ltd. Australia 2.0%
Hanwha Corp. South Korea 1.9%
Celestica Canada 1.6%
Simplo Technology Co., Ltd. Taiwan 1.6%
Power Finance Corp. Ltd. India 1.6%
Credit Saison Co., Ltd. Japan 1.6%
FinVolution Group China 1.6%
Iveco Group NV Italy 1.6%
Sankyo Co., Ltd. Japan 1.6%

A “weighted average” measures a characteristic by the market capitalization of each stock. Price/book ratio is the weighted average of the price/book ratios of all the stocks in a portfolio. The P/B ratio 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. The FY2 P/E ratio is a forward P/E ratio using a next-twenty-four months EPS estimate in the denominator.

*Active defined as Fund weight minus MSCI ACWI ex USA Small Cap Index weight. Holdings are subject to change.

SECTOR WEIGHTS
Sector Fund Benchmark
Industrials 23.0% 21.0%
Financials 16.2% 12.3%
Information Technology 14.0% 9.8%
Consumer Discretionary 10.6% 11.8%
Materials 7.2% 11.8%
Health Care 6.1% 6.8%
Utilities 5.8% 3.2%
Real Estate 5.2% 9.9%
Communication Services 4.9% 4.0%
Energy 2.9% 3.5%
Consumer Staples 1.7% 5.9%
Equity Funds 1.0% 0.0%
TOP 10 COUNTRIES
Country Fund Benchmark
Japan 25.7% 23.6%
Taiwan 8.2% 5.3%
United Kingdom 7.8% 8.9%
Canada 7.4% 6.6%
South Korea 7.0% 3.4%
Australia 6.8% 6.4%
Italy 5.7% 2.1%
India 4.9% 7.8%
China 4.7% 3.1%
Germany 1.9% 2.8%
Regional Allocation
  • Pacific 36.1%
  • Emerging Asia 26.7%
  • Europe – other 22.7%
  • North America 7.4%
  • Emerging Europe, Middle East, Africa 1.9%
  • Developed Middle East 1.6%
  • Emerging Latin America 1.3%
  • Multi Region All Country 1.0%

Commentary (As of April 30, 2025)

Highlights

  • Global equity markets experienced a turbulent month, selling off sharply then rebounding.
  • The strategy underperformed for the period.
  • Relative to their larger-cap peers, international small caps tend to derive a much higher percentage of revenue from their domestic market which we believe better protects them from rising barriers to trade or tariffs.

Portfolio Attribution

The Causeway International Small Cap Fund (“Fund”), on a net asset value basis, underperformed the Index during the month. To evaluate stocks in our investable universe, our multi-factor quantitative model employs five bottom-up factor categories –valuation, sentiment, technical indicators, quality, and corporate events – and two top-down factor categories assessing macroeconomic and country aggregate characteristics. Alpha factor performance was mixed in April. Monthly returns to our valuation factors were negative, though value is the second-best performing factor group over the last twelve months. Our sentiment, technical, and quality factors all delivered positive returns in April. Our corporate events factors were the best-performing factor group last month and over the last twelve months. Returns to our macroeconomic factors were negative in April as countries exhibiting more attractive characteristics (such as Taiwan and China) underperformed those with relatively weaker characteristics (such as Brazil). However, our country aggregate factors delivered slightly positive monthly returns. All factor groups remain positive on an inception to date basis.

Investment Outlook

The US is expected to announce substantial tariff increases on imports from nearly all US trading partners in early April. Many countries may retaliate, creating rising barriers to global trade. Generally speaking, small cap stocks should be less impacted than their larger peers due to greater focus on their home market. Constituents of the Index derive, on average, 65% of their revenue from their home market, compared to just 43% for constituents of the ACWI ex US Index.

In China, we are optimistic about the recent consumption-oriented stimulus measures announced in March as well as the vow to “stabilize the stock market.” Market participants remain skeptical about China hitting GDP growth targets, however the clear pivot to stimulus indicates the government’s willingness to do whatever it takes to boost the economy. Although China is just 3% of the Index, recent stimulus measures should be supportive of global economic growth.

International small caps continue to trade at a rare discount to their larger-cap (ACWI ex USA Index) peers on a forward P/E basis. In addition to the attractive relative valuation of the asset class overall, Causeway’s International Small Cap portfolio continues to trade at a substantial discount to the Index while simultaneously exhibiting more favorable growth, quality, momentum, and positive estimate revisions than the Index. We believe that this highly attractive combination of characteristics better insulates our portfolio from future volatility.

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 will be subject to risk. 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

Table Header Dividends Short-term capital gains Long-term capital gains
2024 $0.7366 $0.2918 $0.4332
2023 $0.8478 $0.0000 $0.0192
2022 $0.3363 $0.0000 $0.0000
2021 $0.4823 $0.0000 $0.0000
2020 $0.4107 $0.0000 $0.0000
2019 $0.4390 $0.0000 $0.0000
2018 $0.3165 $0.0000 $0.0000
2017 $0.3792 $0.2375 $0.4794
2016 $0.2901 $0.0000 $0.0000
2015 $0.2407 $0.0000 $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: