Security Valuation. Equity securities traded on a national stock exchange or Nasdaq Global Markets, Nasdaq Select Market and the Nasdaq Capital Markets (together, “Nasdaq”) are valued at the last reported sale price or Nasdaq Official Closing Price, as applicable, on that day, or, in the absence of recorded sales, at the average of the last bid and asked quotation on such exchange or Nasdaq. Over-the-counter securities not traded on Nasdaq are valued at the last sale price, or if the last sale price is unavailable, at the average of the quoted bid and asked prices in the over-the-counter market. Foreign equity securities (which are principally traded in markets other than the U.S.) are valued based upon the last reported sale price on the primary exchange or market on which they trade as of the close of business of such exchange or market immediately preceding the time of determining the Fund’s net asset value. Any Fund assets or liabilities initially valued in terms of non-U.S. dollar currencies are translated into U.S. dollars at the prevailing foreign currency exchange market rates as provided by an independent and qualified pricing source approved by the valuation designee (“Pricing Service”).
The Trust’s Board of Trustees (the “Board”) has designated Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management, LLC (the “Advisor”) as the Fund’s “valuation designee” to perform all fair valuations of the Fund’s portfolio investments, subject to the Board’s oversight. The Advisor, as the Fund’s valuation designee, has established procedures for its fair valuation of the Fund’s portfolio investments, which address, among other things, determining when market quotations are not readily available or reliable and certain methodologies for the fair valuation of such portfolio investments, as well as the use and oversight of Pricing Services.
Fixed-income securities are generally valued at their evaluated mean prices provided by Pricing Services. Pricing Services generally provide an evaluated price that takes into account appropriate factors such as institutional-sized trading in similar groups of securities, yield, quality, coupon rate, maturity, type of issue, trading characteristics, and other market data, and may provide a price determined by a matrix pricing method or other analytical pricing models. If valuations from the Pricing Services are unavailable or deemed unreliable, the fixed-income security shall be priced according to the average of the bid and ask prices of broker quotes (or a single broker quote) for such security or the last sale price reported on FINRA’s Trade Reporting and Compliance Engine (“TRACE”) (excluding cross and retail trades).
For portfolio holdings which trade in markets that close prior to the close of trading on the New York Stock Exchange (which is generally 4:00 p.m. Eastern time), the Fund generally utilizes a Pricing Service’s fair value price which is designed to capture events occurring after a foreign exchange closes that may affect the value of certain portfolio holdings traded on those foreign exchanges. When this fair value pricing is employed, the value of the portfolio holdings used to calculate the Fund’s net asset value may differ from quoted or official closing prices.
The Trust has performed an analysis of all existing investments to determine the significance and character of all inputs to their fair value determination. Various inputs are used in determining the value of the Fund’s investments. These inputs are summarized in the following three broad categories:
• Level 1 — Quoted unadjusted prices for identical instruments in active markets to which the Trust has access at the date of measurement.
• Level 2—Other significant observable inputs (including quoted prices for similar instruments, interest rates, current yields, credit quality, prepayment speeds for mortgage related securities, collateral for asset-backed securities, foreign security indices, foreign exchange rates, fair value estimates for foreign securities, and changes in benchmark securities indices). Level 2 inputs are those in markets for which there are few transactions, the prices are not current, little public information exists or instances where prices vary substantially over time or among brokered market makers.
• Level 3—Significant unobservable inputs including model derived valuations in which one or more significant inputs or significant value drivers are unobservable. Unobservable inputs are those inputs that reflect the Trust’s own assumptions that market participants would use to price the asset or liability based on the best available information.
The following table presents the valuation levels of the Fund’s assets as of March 31, 2024:
| Level 1 --- Quoted prices in an active market | | | |
| Common Stocks | | $ | 24,153,295 | |
| Level 2 --- Other significant observable market inputs: | | | | |
| Common Stocks: | | | | |
| Communication Services | | | 761,013 | |
| Consumer Discretionary | | | 1,101,579 | |
| Consumer Staples | | | 1,690,037 | |
| Financials | | | 3,460,432 | |
| Health Care | | | 306,194 | |
| Industrials | | | 3,981,371 | |
| Information Technology | | | 901,462 | |
| Time Deposits | | | 1,801,356 | |
| Level 3 --- Significant unobservable inputs | | | - | |
| | | | | |
| Total Investments | | $ | 38,156,739 | |
