Brown Capital Management (BCM) is thrilled to announce that portfolio managers Keith Lee, Robert Hall, Kempton Ingersol, Damien Davis and Andrew Fones, the firm’s Small Company team, have been named Morningstar, Inc.’s U.S. Domestic-Stock Fund Manager of the Year for 2015.
Morningstar made the announcement in a live broadcast of CNBC’s Power Lunch on Tuesday, January 26, 2016.
Keith Lee and Robert Hall have led Brown Capital Management Small Company since the Fund’s inception in 1992. The Small Company Fund1 has a Morningstar Analyst Rating™ of Gold (Morningstar’s highest Medalist rating) and a Morningstar Overall Rating™ of 5 stars (in a category of 660 Small Growth Funds based on risk adjusted returns as of 12/31/2015). The team employs a unique and patient strategy, buying companies that earn $250 million or less in revenue (at the time of initial investment) and that save lives, time, money, or headaches. In 2015, the top 10 contributors to performance were names that have been in the portfolio for an average of nine years.
“We have had high regard for the team at Brown Capital Management for a long time. Since we launched the Morningstar Analyst Rating in 2011, the Fund has carried a Gold rating,” Jon Hale, Morningstar’s director of manager research, North America, said in Morningstar’s press release on Jan. 26.
Of course, Eddie Brown, Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and Founder said, “We are thrilled to be honored with this prestigious award—it is especially meaningful as the Small Company Service will celebrate its 25th anniversary later this year. Since the beginning, our disciplined team has employed the same process to uncover, what we believe to be, the exceptional small companies with the wherewithal to become exceptional larger companies. We are extremely proud that they are recognized by the industry.”
About Brown Capital
Brown Capital Management is an investment management firm located in Baltimore, Maryland. BCM is focused on a growth approach, has deep investment experience in domestic and international markets, and is committed to meeting the investment needs of genuine long-term investors.
For more information, please contact Malcolm R. Fitch at (443)574-6440 or [email protected]
Established in 1988, the Morningstar Fund Manager of the Year award recognizes portfolio managers who demonstrate excellent investment skill and the courage to differ from the consensus to benefit investors. To qualify for the award, managers’ funds must have not only posted impressive returns for the year, but the managers also must have a record of delivering outstanding long-term risk-adjusted performance, and of aligning their interests with shareholders’. Nominated funds must be Morningstar Medalists, a fund that has garnered a Morningstar Analyst Rating of Gold, Silver, or Bronze. The Fund Manager of the Year award winners are chosen based on Morningstar’s proprietary research and in-depth qualitative evaluation by its fund analysts.
The Morningstar Rating noted herein is the mutual fund’s overall Morningstar Rating as of the date of the press release. The overall Morningstar Rating is based on the fund’s risk-adjusted returns and derived from a weighted average of the fund’s three-, five-, and 10-year metrics.
The Morningstar Analyst Ratings are subjective in nature and should not be used as the sole basis for investment decisions. Analyst Ratings are based on Morningstar analysts’ current expectations about future events; risks and uncertainties unknown at the time may cause those expectations not to occur or to differ significantly from what was expected.
Morningstar, Inc. does not represent its Morningstar Rating or its Analyst Ratings to be guarantees nor should they be viewed as an assessment of a fund’s or the fund’s underlying securities’ creditworthiness. The Morningstar Ratings and Analyst Ratings are subject to change and are not to be considered an offer or solicitation by Morningstar to buy or sell the mutual fund(s) noted.
1 For each fund with at least a three-year history, Morningstar calculates a Morningstar Rating™ based on a Morningstar Risk-Adjusted Return measure that accounts for variation in a funds monthly performance (including the effects of sales charges, loads, and redemption fees), placing more emphasis on downward variations and rewarding consistent performance. The top 10% of the funds in each category receive 5 stars, the next 22.5% receive 4 stars, the next 35% receive 3 stars, the next 22.5% receive 2 stars and the bottom 10% receive 1 star. (Each share class is counted as a fraction of one fund within this scale and rated separately, which may cause slight variations in the distribution percentages.) The Overall Morningstar Rating for a fund is derived from a weighted average of the performance figures associated with its three-, five- and ten-year (if applicable) Morningstar Rating metrics. Brown Capital Management Small Company Fund were rated against the following numbers of U.S.-domiciled Small Growth funds over the following time periods as of 12/31/2015: 660 of funds in the 3-year rating and for the Overall rating, 588 of funds in the last five years, and 423 of funds in the last ten years. With respect to these Small Growth funds, Brown Capital Management Small Company Fund received a Morningstar Rating™ of five stars for the 3- year rating and five stars for 5- year rating, and five stars for ten-year rating periods, respectively.
Morningstar Analyst RatingTM
The Morningstar Analyst RatingTM is not a credit or risk rating. It is a subjective evaluation performed by Morningstar’s manager research group, which consists of various Morningstar, Inc. subsidiaries (“Manager Research Group”). In the United States, that subsidiary is Morningstar Research Services LLC, which is registered with and governed by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The Manager Research Group evaluates funds based on five key pillars, which are process, performance, people, parent, and price. The Manager Research Group uses this five pillar evaluation to determine how they believe funds are likely to perform relative to a benchmark, or in the case of exchange-traded funds and index mutual funds, a relevant peer group, over the long term on a risk-adjusted basis. They consider quantitative and qualitative factors in their research, and the weight of each pillar may vary. The Analyst Rating scale is Gold, Silver, Bronze, Neutral, and Negative. A Morningstar Analyst Rating of Gold, Silver, or Bronze reflects the Manager Research Group’s conviction in a fund’s prospects for outperformance. Analyst Ratings ultimately reflect the Manager Research Group’s overall assessment, are overseen by an Analyst Rating Committee, and are continuously monitored and reevaluated at least every 14 months. For more detailed information about Morningstar’s Analyst Rating, including its methodology, please go to global.morningstar.com/managerdisclosures/.
The Morningstar Analyst Rating (i) should not be used as the sole basis in evaluating a fund, (ii) involves unknown risks and uncertainties which may cause Analyst expectations not to occur or to differ significantly from what they expected, and (iii) should not be considered an offer or solicitation to buy or sell the fund.
© [2017] Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. The information contained herein: (1) is proprietary to Morningstar; (2) may not be copied or distributed; and (3) is not warranted to be accurate, complete or timely. Neither Morningstar nor its content providers are responsible for any damages or losses arising from any use of this information. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.
Standardized performance for the Small Company Fund can be found here.
Principal Risk of Investing in the Fund: As with all mutual funds, an investment in the Fund is subject to investment risks, including the possible loss of the principal amount invested. There can be no assurances that the Fund will be successful in meeting its objectives. Investment in the Fund is also subject to market risk, investment style risk, investment advisor risk, market sector risk, equity securities risk, portfolio turnover risk, small companies’ risk, and other risk as set forth in the Fund’s Prospectus. Fund’s that emphasize investment in smaller companies generally experience greater price volatility.
An investor should consider the investment objectives, risks, charges, and expenses of the Fund carefully before investing. The prospectus contains this and other information about the Fund. A copy of the prospectus is available at www.browncapital.com or by calling Shareholder Services at 1-877-892-4226. The prospectus should be read carefully before investing.
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