Quarterly Report
May 31, 2020
MFS® Low Volatility Equity Fund
Portfolio of Investments
5/31/20 (unaudited)
The Portfolio of Investments is a complete list of all securities owned by your fund. It is categorized by broad-based asset classes.
Issuer | Shares/Par | Value ($) | ||
Common Stocks – 98.6% | ||||
Aerospace – 2.3% | ||||
CACI International, Inc., “A” (a) | 20,330 | $5,098,357 | ||
Honeywell International, Inc. | 15,803 | 2,304,868 | ||
Lockheed Martin Corp. | 9,387 | 3,646,286 | ||
Northrop Grumman Corp. | 10,268 | 3,441,834 | ||
$14,491,345 | ||||
Automotive – 1.6% | ||||
Copart, Inc. (a) | 108,088 | $9,661,986 | ||
Brokerage & Asset Managers – 0.4% | ||||
Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. | 25,089 | $2,439,905 | ||
Business Services – 7.0% | ||||
Accenture PLC, “A” | 15,075 | $3,039,421 | ||
Amdocs Ltd. | 223,156 | 13,893,693 | ||
CoStar Group, Inc. (a) | 12,904 | 8,475,347 | ||
Fidelity National Information Services, Inc. | 19,279 | 2,676,504 | ||
Fiserv, Inc. (a) | 25,189 | 2,689,429 | ||
FleetCor Technologies, Inc. (a) | 10,610 | 2,586,612 | ||
Global Payments, Inc. | 35,669 | 6,402,229 | ||
Verisk Analytics, Inc., “A” | 19,290 | 3,330,997 | ||
$43,094,232 | ||||
Cable TV – 3.9% | ||||
Cable One, Inc. | 5,674 | $10,706,214 | ||
Charter Communications, Inc., “A” (a) | 15,844 | 8,619,136 | ||
Comcast Corp., “A” | 127,022 | 5,030,071 | ||
$24,355,421 | ||||
Computer Software – 6.3% | ||||
Adobe Systems, Inc. (a) | 32,796 | $12,678,934 | ||
Microsoft Corp. | 126,656 | 23,209,712 | ||
Oracle Corp. | 58,841 | 3,163,880 | ||
$39,052,526 | ||||
Computer Software - Systems – 0.7% | ||||
Apple, Inc. | 13,284 | $4,223,515 | ||
Construction – 1.5% | ||||
AvalonBay Communities, Inc., REIT | 32,389 | $5,053,008 | ||
Mid-America Apartment Communities, Inc., REIT | 35,288 | 4,106,112 | ||
$9,159,120 | ||||
Consumer Products – 1.8% | ||||
Procter & Gamble Co. | 94,766 | $10,985,275 | ||
Electrical Equipment – 2.1% | ||||
AMETEK, Inc. | 31,195 | $2,860,893 | ||
Johnson Controls International PLC | 108,926 | 3,421,366 | ||
TE Connectivity Ltd. | 83,250 | 6,764,063 | ||
$13,046,322 | ||||
Electronics – 1.2% | ||||
Texas Instruments, Inc. | 61,628 | $7,317,709 |
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Portfolio of Investments (unaudited) – continued
Issuer | Shares/Par | Value ($) | ||
Common Stocks – continued | ||||
Food & Beverages – 6.8% | ||||
General Mills, Inc. | 141,663 | $8,930,435 | ||
Ingredion, Inc. | 120,077 | 10,114,086 | ||
J.M. Smucker Co. | 28,628 | 3,261,588 | ||
Mondelez International, Inc. | 80,850 | 4,213,902 | ||
PepsiCo, Inc. | 119,203 | 15,681,155 | ||
$42,201,166 | ||||
Food & Drug Stores – 0.8% | ||||
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. | 39,191 | $4,862,035 | ||
Insurance – 6.9% | ||||
Allstate Corp. | 43,450 | $4,249,844 | ||
AON PLC | 37,408 | 7,367,506 | ||
Chubb Ltd. | 45,789 | 5,583,511 | ||
Everest Re Group Ltd. | 44,176 | 8,764,960 | ||
Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc. | 119,309 | 4,568,342 | ||
MetLife, Inc. | 334,323 | 12,038,971 | ||
$42,573,134 | ||||
Internet – 4.7% | ||||
Alphabet, Inc., “A” (a) | 11,242 | $16,115,632 | ||
Alphabet, Inc., “C” (a) | 6,677 | 9,540,899 | ||
Facebook, Inc., “A” (a) | 15,737 | 3,542,241 | ||
$29,198,772 | ||||
Leisure & Toys – 0.5% | ||||
Electronic Arts, Inc. (a) | 24,086 | $2,959,688 | ||
Machinery & Tools – 3.2% | ||||
AGCO Corp. | 104,947 | $5,796,223 | ||
Eaton Corp. PLC | 95,950 | 8,146,155 | ||
Illinois Tool Works, Inc. | 16,075 | 2,772,295 | ||
Roper Technologies, Inc. | 8,148 | 3,208,682 | ||
$19,923,355 | ||||
Major Banks – 0.6% | ||||
PNC Financial Services Group, Inc. | 33,944 | $3,870,974 | ||
Medical & Health Technology & Services – 0.8% | ||||
McKesson Corp. | 31,226 | $4,954,629 | ||
Medical Equipment – 5.9% | ||||
Danaher Corp. | 71,952 | $11,987,923 | ||
Medtronic PLC | 93,516 | 9,218,807 | ||
STERIS PLC | 73,259 | 12,152,936 | ||
Thermo Fisher Scientific, Inc. | 8,571 | 2,992,907 | ||
$36,352,573 | ||||
Natural Gas - Distribution – 0.6% | ||||
Sempra Energy | 26,976 | $3,407,338 | ||
Network & Telecom – 0.4% | ||||
Motorola Solutions, Inc. | 18,134 | $2,454,074 |
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Portfolio of Investments (unaudited) – continued
Issuer | Shares/Par | Value ($) | ||
Common Stocks – continued | ||||
Other Banks & Diversified Financials – 3.2% | ||||
Mastercard, Inc., “A” | 42,863 | $12,897,048 | ||
U.S. Bancorp | 53,620 | 1,906,727 | ||
Visa, Inc., “A” | 25,123 | 4,905,015 | ||
$19,708,790 | ||||
Pharmaceuticals – 11.0% | ||||
AbbVie, Inc. | 30,525 | $2,828,752 | ||
Eli Lilly & Co. | 133,730 | 20,454,003 | ||
Johnson & Johnson | 121,013 | 18,000,684 | ||
Merck & Co., Inc. | 122,522 | 9,889,976 | ||
Pfizer, Inc. | 281,170 | 10,737,882 | ||
Zoetis, Inc. | 40,890 | 5,699,657 | ||
$67,610,954 | ||||
Pollution Control – 3.6% | ||||
Republic Services, Inc. | 28,993 | $2,477,742 | ||
Waste Connections, Inc. | 146,821 | 13,807,047 | ||
Waste Management, Inc. | 52,739 | 5,629,888 | ||
$21,914,677 | ||||
Real Estate – 4.7% | ||||
Extra Space Storage, Inc., REIT | 26,335 | $2,547,911 | ||
Public Storage, Inc., REIT | 25,160 | 5,100,938 | ||
Spirit Realty Capital, Inc., REIT | 192,844 | 5,482,555 | ||
STAG Industrial, Inc., REIT | 78,672 | 2,116,277 | ||
STORE Capital Corp., REIT | 164,772 | 3,186,691 | ||
Sun Communities, Inc., REIT | 18,438 | 2,529,509 | ||
W.P. Carey, Inc., REIT | 131,464 | 7,876,008 | ||
$28,839,889 | ||||
Restaurants – 2.7% | ||||
McDonald's Corp. | 15,474 | $2,883,116 | ||
Starbucks Corp. | 177,442 | 13,838,701 | ||
$16,721,817 | ||||
Specialty Chemicals – 0.7% | ||||
Ecolab, Inc. | 20,158 | $4,285,188 | ||
Specialty Stores – 4.9% | ||||
Amazon.com, Inc. (a) | 3,587 | $8,760,781 | ||
Costco Wholesale Corp. | 56,069 | 17,295,605 | ||
Target Corp. | 36,091 | 4,415,012 | ||
$30,471,398 | ||||
Telephone Services – 1.2% | ||||
AT&T, Inc. | 85,106 | $2,626,371 | ||
Verizon Communications, Inc. | 87,664 | 5,030,160 | ||
$7,656,531 | ||||
Utilities - Electric Power – 6.6% | ||||
American Electric Power Co., Inc. | 40,549 | $3,456,802 | ||
Avangrid, Inc. | 47,620 | 2,118,138 | ||
DTE Energy Co. | 27,674 | 2,976,892 | ||
Duke Energy Corp. | 70,079 | 6,000,865 | ||
Evergy, Inc. | 73,186 | 4,514,844 | ||
Exelon Corp. | 61,937 | 2,372,806 | ||
NextEra Energy, Inc. | 42,414 | 10,839,322 |
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Portfolio of Investments (unaudited) – continued
Issuer | Shares/Par | Value ($) | ||
Common Stocks – continued | ||||
Utilities - Electric Power – continued | ||||
Xcel Energy, Inc. | 133,684 | $8,693,471 | ||
$40,973,140 | ||||
Total Common Stocks | $608,767,478 | |||
Investment Companies (h) – 1.0% | ||||
Money Market Funds – 1.0% | ||||
MFS Institutional Money Market Portfolio, 0.19% (v) | 6,002,230 | $6,002,830 | ||
Other Assets, Less Liabilities – 0.4% | 2,728,922 | |||
Net Assets – 100.0% | $617,499,230 |
(a) | Non-income producing security. | |||
(h) | An affiliated issuer, which may be considered one in which the fund owns 5% or more of the outstanding voting securities, or a company which is under common control. At period end, the aggregate values of the fund's investments in affiliated issuers and in unaffiliated issuers were $6,002,830 and $608,767,478, respectively. | |||
(v) | Affiliated issuer that is available only to investment companies managed by MFS. The rate quoted for the MFS Institutional Money Market Portfolio is the annualized seven-day yield of the fund at period end. |
The following abbreviations are used in this report and are defined: | |
REIT | Real Estate Investment Trust |
See attached supplemental information. For more information see notes to financial statements as disclosed in the most recent semiannual or annual report.
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Supplemental Information
5/31/20 (unaudited)
The fund is an investment company and accordingly follows the investment company accounting and reporting guidance of the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) Accounting Standards Codification Topic 946 Financial Services - Investment Companies.
(1) Investment Valuations
Equity securities, including restricted equity securities, are generally valued at the last sale or official closing price on their primary market or exchange as provided by a third-party pricing service. Equity securities, for which there were no sales reported that day, are generally valued at the last quoted daily bid quotation on their primary market or exchange as provided by a third-party pricing service. Short-term instruments with a maturity at issuance of 60 days or less may be valued at amortized cost, which approximates market value. Open-end investment companies are generally valued at net asset value per share. Securities and other assets generally valued on the basis of information from a third-party pricing service may also be valued at a broker/dealer bid quotation. In determining values, third-party pricing services can utilize both transaction data and market information such as yield, quality, coupon rate, maturity, type of issue, trading characteristics, and other market data.
The Board of Trustees has delegated primary responsibility for determining or causing to be determined the value of the fund’s investments (including any fair valuation) to the adviser pursuant to valuation policies and procedures approved by the Board. If the adviser determines that reliable market quotations are not readily available, investments are valued at fair value as determined in good faith by the adviser in accordance with such procedures under the oversight of the Board of Trustees. Under the fund’s valuation policies and procedures, market quotations are not considered to be readily available for most types of debt instruments and floating rate loans and many types of derivatives. These investments are generally valued at fair value based on information from third-party pricing services. In addition, investments may be valued at fair value if the adviser determines that an investment’s value has been materially affected by events occurring after the close of the exchange or market on which the investment is principally traded (such as foreign exchange or market) and prior to the determination of the fund’s net asset value, or after the halt of trading of a specific security where trading does not resume prior to the close of the exchange or market on which the security is principally traded. Events that occur after foreign markets close (such as developments in foreign markets and significant movements in the U.S. markets) and prior to the determination of the fund’s net asset value may be deemed to have a material effect on the value of securities traded in foreign markets. Accordingly, the fund’s foreign equity securities may often be valued at fair value. The adviser generally relies on third-party pricing services or other information (such as the correlation with price movements of similar securities in the same or other markets; the type, cost and investment characteristics of the security; the business and financial condition of the issuer; and trading and other market data) to assist in determining whether to fair value and at what value to fair value an investment. The value of an investment for purposes of calculating the fund’s net asset value can differ depending on the source and method used to determine value. When fair valuation is used, the value of an investment used to determine the fund’s net asset value may differ from quoted or published prices for the same investment. There can be no assurance that the fund could obtain the fair value assigned to an investment if it were to sell the investment at the same time at which the fund determines its net asset value per share.
Various inputs are used in determining the value of the fund's assets or liabilities. These inputs are categorized into three broad levels. In certain cases, the inputs used to measure fair value may fall into different levels of the fair value hierarchy. In such cases, an investment's level within the fair value hierarchy is based on the lowest level of input that is significant to the fair value measurement. The fund's assessment of the significance of a particular input to the fair value measurement in its entirety requires judgment, and considers factors specific to the investment. Level 1 includes unadjusted quoted prices in active markets for identical assets or liabilities. Level 2 includes other significant observable market-based inputs (including quoted prices for similar securities, interest rates, prepayment speed, and credit risk). Level 3 includes unobservable inputs, which may include the adviser's own assumptions in determining the fair value of investments. The following is a summary of the levels used as of May 31, 2020 in valuing the fund's assets or liabilities:
Financial Instruments | Level 1 | Level 2 | Level 3 | Total |
Equity Securities | $608,767,478 | $— | $— | $608,767,478 |
Mutual Funds | 6,002,830 | — | — | 6,002,830 |
Total | $614,770,308 | $— | $— | $614,770,308 |
For further information regarding security characteristics, see the Portfolio of Investments.
(2) Investments in Affiliated Issuers
An affiliated issuer may be considered one in which the fund owns 5% or more of the outstanding voting securities, or a company which is under common control. For the purposes of this report, the following were affiliated issuers:
Affiliated Issuers | Beginning Value | Purchases | Sales Proceeds | Realized Gain (Loss) | Change in Unrealized Appreciation or Depreciation | Ending Value |
MFS Institutional Money Market Portfolio | $2,645,173 | $198,967,182 | $195,604,890 | $(4,372) | $(263) | $6,002,830 |
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Supplemental Information (unaudited) – continued
Affiliated Issuers | Dividend Income | Capital Gain Distributions |
MFS Institutional Money Market Portfolio | $53,443 | $— |
(3) Impacts of COVID-19
The pandemic related to the global spread of novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), which was first detected in December 2019, has resulted in significant disruptions to global business activity and the global economy, as well as the economies of individual countries, the financial performance of individual companies and sectors, and the securities and commodities markets in general. This pandemic, the full effects of which are still unknown, has resulted in substantial market volatility and may have adversely impacted the prices and liquidity of the fund's investments and the fund's performance.
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