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*
+21.99%
Nav*
$18.75, +0.17
Inception
October 20, 2014
Cusip
14949P703
Benchmark
MSCI ACWI ex USA Small Cap
Minimum Investment
$1,000,000
Sales Charge
None
Gross Expense Ratio
1.15%
Net Expense Ratio
1.10%
*As of October 16, 2026
**Contractual fee waivers are in effect until 1/31/2027.

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 12.7%24.3%29.8%25.7%16.5%12.3%11.3%
MSCI ACWI ex USA Small Cap 2.1%11.4%14.7%17.9%6.7%8.5%8.0%
Table Header QTD YTD 1 year3 years5 years10 years Since inception
Fund 12.7%24.3%29.8%25.7%16.5%12.3%11.3%
MSCI ACWI ex USA Small Cap 2.1%11.4%14.7%17.9%6.7%8.5%8.0%
Table Header QTD YTD 1 year3 years5 years10 years Since inception
Fund 12.7%24.3%29.8%25.7%16.5%12.3%11.3%
MSCI ACWI ex USA Small Cap 2.1%11.4%14.7%17.9%6.7%8.5%8.0%
Table Header QTD YTD 1 year3 years5 years10 years Since inception
Fund 12.7%24.3%29.8%25.7%16.5%12.3%11.3%
MSCI ACWI ex USA Small Cap 2.1%11.4%14.7%17.9%6.7%8.5%8.0%
Table Header 20252024202320222021202020192018201720162015
Fund 33.0%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 29.3%3.4%15.7%-20.0%12.9%14.2%22.4%-18.2%31.6%3.9%2.6%
Table Header
Fund
MSCI ACWI ex USA Small Cap
20252024202320222021202020192018201720162015
33.0%10.0%27.2%-11.3%21.6%2.7%18.8%-21.1%34.7%3.3%4.7%
29.3%3.4%15.7%-20.0%12.9%14.2%22.4%-18.2%31.6%3.9%2.6%

Portfolio (as of September 30, 2026)

Benchmark: MSCI ACWI ex USA Small Cap
Asset Allocation
Table Header Fund
Stocks 98.5%
Cash 1.5%
Fund Characteristics
Table Header Fund Benchmark
No. of holdings 131 3953
Weighted avg. market cap (US $MM) $3,264 $3,017
FY2 price/earnings 8.7 12.8
Price/book value 1.2 1.6
Net assets $281,264,170 -
TOP 10 ACTIVE HOLDINGS
Security Country Active weight*
Motor Oil (Hellas) Corinth Refineries SA Greece 2.0%
Alps Alpine Co., Ltd. Japan 2.0%
GS Holdings Corp. South Korea 2.0%
Micro-Star International Co., Ltd. Taiwan 1.9%
Kyushu Electric Power Co., Inc. Japan 1.9%
AIR Canada Canada 1.8%
Dl E&C Co., Ltd South Korea 1.8%
Brother Industries, Ltd. Japan 1.7%
Unipol Gruppo SpA Italy 1.7%
Thai Oil Public Co. Ltd. Thailand 1.7%

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 above exclude exchange-traded funds. Holdings are subject to change.

SECTOR WEIGHTS
Sector Fund Benchmark
Industrials 24.8% 20.5%
Information Technology 18.8% 14.5%
Materials 14.3% 13.1%
Energy 9.7% 4.2%
Financials 7.9% 12.2%
Consumer Discretionary 7.3% 10.2%
Health Care 6.1% 6.2%
Utilities 3.6% 2.6%
Real Estate 3.0% 8.0%
Communication Services 1.9% 3.6%
Consumer Staples 0.8% 4.9%
TOP 10 COUNTRIES
Country Fund Benchmark
Japan 27.4% 23.6%
Canada 11.7% 7.9%
Taiwan 10.5% 8.1%
South Korea 8.5% 4.5%
United Kingdom 5.7% 8.0%
Thailand 5.6% 0.7%
India 4.6% 6.1%
Norway 3.9% 1.6%
Australia 2.6% 6.7%
Greece 2.5% 0.3%
Regional Allocation
  • Pacific 32.0%
  • Emerging Asia 31.7%
  • North America 11.7%
  • Europe - Other 11.4%
  • Euro 5.3%
  • Emerging Europe, Middle East, Africa 4.0%
  • Developed Middle East 1.9%
  • Emerging Latin America 0.1%

Commentary (As of September 30, 2026)

Highlights

  • Global equities fell in September as surging bond yields, a Fed rate hike, and elevated oil prices weighed on risk assets.
  • The strategy outperformed for the period.
  • Causeway’s portfolio combines lower valuation with more favorable growth, quality, momentum, and estimate revisions, which we believe enhances downside resilience.

Portfolio Attribution

The Causeway International Small Cap Fund (“Fund”), on a net asset value basis, outperformed the Index during the month. To evaluate stocks in our investible 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. All of our alpha factor categories posted positive returns in September. Among the strategy’s bottom-up factors, our technical, sentiment, and corporate events categories delivered the most positive monthly returns, and they have also led returns on a year-to-date basis. Our macroeconomic and country aggregate factors posted positive monthly returns as countries exhibiting stronger metrics (such as Japan and Taiwan) outperformed those with relatively weaker characteristics (such as Australia and India). All factor groups remain positive on an inception-to-date basis.

Investment Outlook

The latest action by the US Fed during its September meeting was to raise the Fed funds rate by 25 bps to 3.75-4%. In his remarks, Fed Chair Kevin Warsh stated that the Fed's main focus is on price stability and that the Fed action should speed the return to the target of 2% inflation. He also stated that financial conditions weren't restrictive enough, although it's not clear what indicators are driving this conclusion.

The AI capex trade seems to have gotten its legs again, as the Taiwan market surpassed its peak from June and the Korean market re-traced more than half of its selloff from the June peak to the July low. AI capex numbers from hyperscalers have continued to stay strong and earnings from the Taiwan and Korean AI supply chain companies reflect that strength, resulting in valuations that remain, in our view, reasonable even though stock performance has been strong year to date. Also, volatility in Korea, which was elevated during June and July, has subsided as leverage has been reduced, both due to regulatory actions as well as the exit of some levered market participants.

The ongoing conflict in the Middle East bolstered crude oil prices during the quarter as a credible path to resolution remains murky. Rising oil prices pose a headwind for many oil-importing Asian countries, which represent a large portion of the Fund’s portfolio. However, the Fund is also overweight multiple refining companies, which should be benefiting from increasing crack spreads.

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
2025 $0.7613 $0.2609 $1.5623
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: