Harbor Bond Fund Institutional Class (HABDX)

Investment Philosophy

Principal Style Characteristics: Intermediate bonds with overall portfolio rated high quality

The Fund invests primarily in fixed income securities of corporate and governmental issuers located in the U.S. and foreign countries, including emerging markets. Total return includes dividends, interest income, realized and unrealized capital gains and changes in net asset value.

The Subadviser relies on its own proprietary research and analysis to manage the Fund's portfolio. The Subadviser uses a top-down strategy to focus on broad factors and monetary conditions. These include:

  • Long-term social, political and demographic trends
  • Cyclical business and economic conditions
  • Current market conditions

The Subadviser selects securities that appear to be most undervalued relative to their risk and potential return characteristics. In analyzing the relative attractiveness of sectors, the Subadviser considers the narrowing or widening of yields compared with yields for government and other sectors.

Under normal market conditions, the Fund invests at least 80% of its net assets, plus borrowings for investment purposes, in a diversified portfolio of bonds, which include all types of fixed income securities. These include mortgage-related securities and asset-backed securities. The Fund's 80% investment policy can be changed by the Fund upon 60 days' advance notice to shareholders.

The Fund may invest up to 30% of its total assets in non-U.S. dollar-denominated securities and may invest without limit in U.S. dollar-denominated securities of foreign issuers. Foreign currency exposure (from non-U.S. dollar denominated securities or currencies) normally will be limited to 20% of the Fund's total assets. The Fund also may invest up to 15% of its total assets in securities of issuers based in countries with developing (emerging markets) economies.

The Fund uses derivative securities such as mortgage-backed securities and derivative contracts such as swap agreements, options and futures to take investment positions that more precisely reflect the Subadviser's expectations of how portfolio securities will perform. The Fund may engage in short selling, which is the sale by the Fund of a borrowed security. Because the Fund is obligated to replace the borrowed security, the Fund would benefit from the short sale if the price of the security declines before it is replaced.

Credit Quality. The Fund will not invest in securities rated lower than B by S&P or equivalently rated by Moody's or Fitch. The Fund's average weighted portfolio quality is expected to be at least A. The Fund invests primarily in investment-grade securities, but may invest up to 15% of its total assets in below investment grade domestic and foreign securities, commonly referred to as high-yield or junk bonds.

Duration. The Fund's average duration is normally equal to that of its benchmark, plus or minus two years. The duration of the Barclays Capital Aggregate (U.S.) Bond Index as of December 31, 2010 was 4.98 years. Average duration is a weighted average of all bond durations in the Fund's portfolio, and is an approximate measure of the sensitivity of the market value of the Fund's holdings to changes in interest rates. If the Fund's duration is longer than the market's duration, the Fund would experience a greater change in the value of its assets when interest rates are rising or falling than would the market as a whole.

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. Fixed income securities fluctuate in price in response to various factors, including changes in interest rates, changes in market conditions and issuer-specific events, 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:

Interest rate risk: As interest rates rise, the values of fixed income securities held by the Fund are likely to decrease and reduce the value of the Fund's portfolio. Securities with longer durations tend to be more sensitive to changes in interest rates and are usually more volatile than securities with shorter durations. For example, if the Fund's portfolio has an average duration of ten years, a 1% increase in interest rates would generally result in a 10% decrease in the Fund's value.

Credit risk: The issuer of a security owned by the Fund or the counterparty to a derivative or other contractual instrument owned by the Fund could default on its obligation to pay principal and/or interest or its credit rating could be downgraded. This risk is higher for below investment-grade bonds.

Prepayment risk: When interest rates are declining, the issuer of a pass-through security, such as a mortgage-backed or an asset-backed security, may exercise its option to prepay principal earlier than scheduled, forcing the Fund to reinvest in lower yielding securities.

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

Derivatives risk: The value of derivative instruments held by the Fund may not change in the manner expected by the Subadviser, which could result in disproportionately large losses to the Fund.

Foreign securities risk: Prices of the Fund's foreign securities holdings may go down because of unfavorable changes in foreign currency exchange rates, foreign government actions, political instability or the more limited availability of accurate information about foreign issuers. Also, a decline in the value of foreign currencies relative to the U.S. dollar will reduce the unhedged value of securities denominated in those currencies. Foreign securities are sometimes less liquid and harder to value than securities of U.S. issuers. These risks are more significant for issuers in emerging market countries.

Short sales risk: If the price of securities sold short increases, the Fund would be required to pay more to replace the borrowed securities than the Fund received on the sale of the securities. Because there is theoretically no limit to the amount of the increase in price of the borrowed securities, the Fund's risk of loss on a short sale is potentially unlimited.

Mortgage risk: Mortgage derivatives in the Fund's portfolio may have especially volatile prices because the embedded leverage can magnify the impact of the extension or contraction event on the underlying cash flow. There may be a greater risk that the Fund could lose money due to prepayment and extension risks because the Fund invests heavily at times in mortgage-related securities.

High-yield risk: There is a greater risk that the Fund will lose money because it invests in high-yield bonds. These securities are considered speculative because they have a higher risk of issuer default, are subject to greater price volatility and may be illiquid.