Harbor International Fund Institutional Class (HAINX)

Investment Philosophy

Principal Style Characteristics: International large cap value oriented stocks

The Fund invests primarily (no less than 65% of its total assets) in common and preferred stocks of foreign companies, including those located in emerging market countries. Companies in the Fund's portfolio generally have market capitalizations in excess of $1 billion at the time of purchase.

The Subadviser uses an analysis of economic and market data, as well as its knowledge of each country's culture, to determine country and industry allocations. Before selecting a country for investment, the Subadviser analyzes the stability of a country's currency and its political, social and economic culture. Subject to these allocations, the Subadviser uses a value oriented, bottom-up approach, researching and evaluating individual companies, to select stocks for the Fund's portfolio.

In selecting stocks for the Fund's portfolio, the Subadviser also looks for companies with the following characteristics:

  • Businesses that the Subadviser believes offer value
  • Low price/earnings multiples relative to other stocks in each country/industry
  • Above average, long-term earnings expectation not reflected in the price
  • Under normal market conditions, the Fund will invest in a minimum of ten countries throughout the world, focusing on companies located in Europe, the Pacific Basin and emerging industrialized countries whose economies and political regimes appear stable.

Risks

There is no guarantee that the investment objective of the Fund will be achieved. An investment in the Fund is not a bank deposit and is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other government agency. Stocks fluctuate in price and the value of your investment in the Fund may go down. This means that you could lose money on your investment in the Fund or the Fund may not perform as well as other possible investments. Principal risks include:

Market risk: The individual stocks in which the Fund has invested or overall stock markets in which they trade may decline in value. Additionally, an adverse event, such as an unfavorable earnings report, may depress the value of a particular company's stock.

Value style risk: Over time, a value oriented investing style may go in and out of favor, which may cause the Fund to sometimes underperform other equity funds that use different investing styles.

Selection risk: The Subadviser's judgment about the attractiveness, value and potential appreciation of a particular company's stock could be incorrect.

Foreign securities risk: The Fund invests primarily in securities of foreign companies. Because of this, there is a greater risk that the Fund's share price will fluctuate more than if the Fund invested in domestic issuers. Foreign issuers are sometimes less liquid and harder to value than securities of U.S. issuers. In addition, foreign brokerage and custodian fees may be higher than those in the U.S. Prices of foreign securities may go down and the Fund may lose money as a result of the following:

  • Unfavorable foreign government actions, such as excessive taxation or currency controls; political, economic or market instability; or the absence of accurate information about foreign companies due in part to different financial accounting and regulatory standards.
  • A decline in the value of foreign currencies relative to the U.S. dollar may reduce the unhedged value of securities denominated in those currencies.

Emerging market risk: The foreign securities risks are more significant for issuers in emerging market countries such as those in Eastern Europe, Latin America and the Pacific Basin. Additional risks include immature economic structure and less developed and more thinly-traded securities markets.