Dodge & Cox to Launch First Fund in Six Years

Like its other equity funds, the Dodge & Cox Emerging Markets Stock Fund, aims to use a bottom-up approach to investing, selecting assets its team of analysts believe are temporarily undervalued by the market but have a favorable outlook for long-term growth, according to its SEC filing. 

The fund will focus on the underlying financial condition and prospects of individual companies, including future earnings, cash flow, and dividends, as well as financial strength, economic condition, competitive advantage, quality of the business franchise and its reputation, and experience and competence of management — all  weighed against valuations of individual securities.

It also will consider the economic and political stability of the country where the issuer is located and the protections provided to shareholders and may invest in companies of any size, including large-, medium- and small-cap.

The fund's portfolio managers include three members of the firm's equity investment committee who are also managers of the firm's International Stock Fund:

• Charles Pohl, the firm's chairman and chief investment officer;
• Diana Strandberg, director of international equity; and
• Mario DiPrisco, vice president and research analyst who are also managers of the firm's International Stock Fund.

The three additional portfolio managers are vice presidents and research analysts Sophie Chen, Rameez Dossa and Robert Turley.

Morningstar accords Dodge & Cox International Stock and Global Stock Funds a gold analyst rating, which translates into a strong conviction that their strategies will outperform a relevant index, or most peers, over a market cycle. 

Morningstar Senior analyst Tony Thomas has described the firm's investment committee approach for those funds as  exemplary and "thoroughly contrarian," with performances that can be volatile at times but profitable in the long run.