Equity

Premier Growth Equity Strategy

The strategy seeks long-term capital appreciation by investing primarily in large- and mid-cap companies on the "right side of change," with robust and sustainable growth.

All-cap research

Deep pool of growth investors that glean unique insights through intensive bottom-up research conducted across the entire market-cap spectrum

Style consistency

Focus on companies with robust and sustainable growth and remain highly disciplined in all market environments

Portfolio construction

Structured to emphasize diversification and balance through a barbell allocation to “core growth” and “developing growth” holdings

Sell discipline

Quantified sell discipline uniquely positions the team to manage risk through both its buy and sell decisions

Investment approach

Long-term performance starts with identifying companies on the "right side of change."

Right side of change

We seek to provide clients with long-term compounding through robust growth businesses on the “right side of change."

Fundamental “edge”

We believe that innovative growth companies are frequently mispriced in equity markets. We seek to capture the market’s mispricing of future growth through all-cap bottom-up fundamental research.

Balanced risk management

We use a style-pure growth focus with a balanced approach to portfolio construction and risk management through a quantified sell discipline.

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Composite performance

Average annual returns

(as of 12/31/2025)

8/1/1994

	1M	3M	YTD	1Y	3Y	5Y	10Y	Inception
Composite (Gross)	-1.91	-2.29	17.70	17.70	29.82	10.97	15.67	13.62
Composite (Net)	-1.96	-2.44	17.00	17.00	29.00	10.24	14.87	12.79
Benchmark	-0.62	1.12	18.56	18.56	31.15	15.32	18.13	11.78

Performance is historical and does not guarantee future results. For more information, please refer to the GIPS composite report found in the documents section.

Calendar year

	2025	2024	2023	2022	2021	2020	2019	2018	2017	2016
Composite (Gross)	17.70	38.52	34.18	-33.02	14.84	40.72	34.55	2.05	35.33	-2.53
Composite (Net)	17.00	37.69	33.25	-33.50	14.05	39.74	33.57	1.28	34.34	-3.26
Benchmark	18.56	33.36	42.68	-29.14	27.60	38.49	36.39	-1.51	30.21	7.08

Performance is historical and does not guarantee future results. For more information, please refer to the GIPS composite report found in the documents section.

Our team

Meet the investment team

The team seeks a style-pure dedication to growth, targeting consistency of returns and focusing on fundamental, bottom-up, all-cap research to identify businesses with sustainable growth.

View Team

Robert Gruendyke

Portfolio Manager

Michael T. Smith

Head of Growth Equity

Christopher Warner

Portfolio Manager

Key risks

Market risk: Security markets are volatile and may decline significantly in response to adverse issuer, regulatory, political, or economic developments with different sectors of the market and different security types reacting differently to such developments.

Equity securities risk: Equity securities fluctuate in value and price in response to factors specific to the issuer of the security, such as management performance, financial condition, and market demand for the issuer's products or services, as well as factors unrelated to the fundamental condition of the issuer, including general market, economic, and political conditions.

Small-cap securities risk: If a strategy invests in the securities of smaller-capitalization companies, these securities tend to be more volatile and less liquid than those of larger companies.

Foreign securities risk: If a strategy invests in the securities of non-U.S. issuers, these investments may be subject to lower liquidity, greater price volatility, and risks related to adverse political, regulatory, market, or economic developments and may be affected by changes in foreign currency exchange rates.

Investors should know that this strategy deployed may be subject to additional investment risks. For important information about the investment manager, please refer to Form ADV Part 2.

We look forward to helping you with your investment needs

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Diversification does not ensure or guarantee better performance and cannot eliminate the risk of investment losses.

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