Quarterly Report
November 30, 2021
MFS® Low Volatility Global
Equity Fund
Equity Fund
LVO-Q1
Portfolio of Investments
11/30/21 (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 – 98.3% | ||||
Automotive – 0.4% | ||||
Bridgestone Corp. | 23,600 | $957,108 | ||
Biotechnology – 0.6% | ||||
Vertex Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (a) | 7,101 | $1,327,461 | ||
Brokerage & Asset Managers – 0.9% | ||||
ASX Ltd. | 18,162 | $1,154,772 | ||
IG Group Holdings PLC | 77,195 | 792,064 | ||
$1,946,836 | ||||
Business Services – 3.1% | ||||
CGI, Inc. (a) | 8,241 | $687,958 | ||
Dropbox, Inc. (a) | 111,408 | 2,741,751 | ||
Eurofins Scientific SE | 13,590 | 1,736,408 | ||
Fiserv, Inc. (a) | 8,879 | 857,001 | ||
Sohgo Security Services Co. Ltd. | 23,900 | 1,019,001 | ||
$7,042,119 | ||||
Cable TV – 0.8% | ||||
Charter Communications, Inc., “A” (a) | 1,498 | $968,128 | ||
Comcast Corp., “A” | 17,638 | 881,547 | ||
$1,849,675 | ||||
Computer Software – 6.4% | ||||
Adobe Systems, Inc. (a) | 10,716 | $7,178,113 | ||
Microsoft Corp. | 15,832 | 5,233,901 | ||
Oracle Corp. | 22,699 | 2,059,707 | ||
$14,471,721 | ||||
Computer Software - Systems – 6.2% | ||||
Constellation Software, Inc. | 2,557 | $4,350,953 | ||
EPAM Systems, Inc. (a) | 1,596 | 971,246 | ||
Fujitsu Ltd. | 14,300 | 2,362,535 | ||
Hitachi Ltd. | 26,900 | 1,583,395 | ||
NICE Systems Ltd., ADR (a) | 8,767 | 2,559,789 | ||
SS&C Technologies Holdings, Inc. | 13,795 | 1,052,972 | ||
Venture Corp. Ltd. | 90,000 | 1,222,078 | ||
$14,102,968 | ||||
Conglomerates – 0.4% | ||||
Jardine Matheson Holdings Ltd. | 17,000 | $962,030 | ||
Construction – 1.0% | ||||
AvalonBay Communities, Inc., REIT | 7,583 | $1,811,351 | ||
Otis Worldwide Corp. | 5,887 | 473,315 | ||
$2,284,666 | ||||
Consumer Products – 2.2% | ||||
Colgate-Palmolive Co. | 23,951 | $1,796,804 | ||
Kimberly-Clark Corp. | 14,085 | 1,835,416 | ||
Procter & Gamble Co. | 9,068 | 1,311,052 | ||
$4,943,272 |
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Portfolio of Investments (unaudited) – continued
Issuer | Shares/Par | Value ($) | ||
Common Stocks – continued | ||||
Electronics – 4.1% | ||||
Kyocera Corp. | 44,400 | $2,630,404 | ||
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd., ADR | 56,733 | 6,646,271 | ||
$9,276,675 | ||||
Food & Beverages – 6.0% | ||||
General Mills, Inc. | 50,944 | $3,146,811 | ||
J.M. Smucker Co. | 7,868 | 995,066 | ||
Mondelez International, Inc. | 31,916 | 1,881,129 | ||
Nestle S.A. | 27,916 | 3,588,136 | ||
PepsiCo, Inc. | 24,421 | 3,901,987 | ||
$13,513,129 | ||||
Food & Drug Stores – 3.3% | ||||
Seven & I Holdings Co. Ltd. | 71,100 | $2,855,184 | ||
Sugi Holdings Co. Ltd. | 11,500 | 723,336 | ||
Sundrug Co. Ltd. | 36,900 | 975,752 | ||
Tesco PLC | 294,026 | 1,079,907 | ||
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. | 12,828 | 1,804,002 | ||
$7,438,181 | ||||
General Merchandise – 2.3% | ||||
B&M European Value Retail S.A. | 148,655 | $1,222,119 | ||
Dollar General Corp. | 14,119 | 3,124,535 | ||
Dollarama, Inc. | 19,563 | 845,032 | ||
$5,191,686 | ||||
Insurance – 3.6% | ||||
Everest Re Group Ltd. | 14,297 | $3,665,465 | ||
Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd. | 3,624 | 1,608,382 | ||
Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance Co. Ltd. | 9,237 | 1,570,733 | ||
Zurich Insurance Group AG | 3,202 | 1,321,225 | ||
$8,165,805 | ||||
Internet – 3.5% | ||||
Alphabet, Inc., “A” (a) | 1,733 | $4,918,167 | ||
Alphabet, Inc., “C” (a) | 362 | 1,031,352 | ||
Gartner, Inc. (a) | 6,018 | 1,879,121 | ||
$7,828,640 | ||||
Leisure & Toys – 3.4% | ||||
DeNA Co. Ltd. | 55,300 | $818,242 | ||
Electronic Arts, Inc. | 29,606 | 3,677,657 | ||
Nintendo Co. Ltd. | 1,500 | 666,208 | ||
SEGA SAMMY Holdings, Inc. | 73,500 | 1,203,046 | ||
Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. (a) | 7,944 | 1,317,751 | ||
$7,682,904 | ||||
Machinery & Tools – 1.0% | ||||
Eaton Corp. PLC | 14,194 | $2,300,280 | ||
Major Banks – 4.4% | ||||
Bank of Nova Scotia | 16,176 | $1,009,868 | ||
BOC Hong Kong Holdings Ltd. | 1,016,000 | 3,068,325 | ||
DBS Group Holdings Ltd. | 81,600 | 1,782,735 | ||
JPMorgan Chase & Co. | 18,767 | 2,980,763 | ||
Royal Bank of Canada | 11,748 | 1,163,404 | ||
$10,005,095 |
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Portfolio of Investments (unaudited) – continued
Issuer | Shares/Par | Value ($) | ||
Common Stocks – continued | ||||
Medical & Health Technology & Services – 2.2% | ||||
McKesson Corp. | 18,765 | $4,067,501 | ||
Quest Diagnostics, Inc. | 6,942 | 1,032,137 | ||
$5,099,638 | ||||
Medical Equipment – 2.1% | ||||
Becton, Dickinson and Co. | 4,706 | $1,115,981 | ||
Koninklijke Philips N.V. | 25,599 | 902,931 | ||
Medtronic PLC | 13,430 | 1,432,981 | ||
Terumo Corp. | 34,200 | 1,393,895 | ||
$4,845,788 | ||||
Metals & Mining – 0.4% | ||||
Rio Tinto PLC | 14,293 | $880,024 | ||
Natural Gas - Distribution – 1.7% | ||||
Italgas S.p.A. | 471,497 | $2,977,349 | ||
Tokyo Gas Co. Ltd. | 47,700 | 818,895 | ||
$3,796,244 | ||||
Other Banks & Diversified Financials – 1.8% | ||||
China Merchants Bank Co. Ltd. | 201,500 | $1,558,149 | ||
U.S. Bancorp | 45,376 | 2,511,108 | ||
$4,069,257 | ||||
Pharmaceuticals – 10.9% | ||||
Eli Lilly & Co. | 10,729 | $2,661,221 | ||
Johnson & Johnson | 37,210 | 5,802,155 | ||
Merck & Co., Inc. | 35,119 | 2,630,764 | ||
Novartis AG | 11,731 | 938,429 | ||
Novo Nordisk A.S., “B” | 59,015 | 6,319,292 | ||
Roche Holding AG | 16,106 | 6,309,594 | ||
$24,661,455 | ||||
Pollution Control – 0.5% | ||||
Waste Connections, Inc. | 9,174 | $1,220,692 | ||
Precious Metals & Minerals – 1.7% | ||||
Franco-Nevada Corp. | 27,785 | $3,810,228 | ||
Railroad & Shipping – 1.2% | ||||
Kansas City Southern Co. | 5,955 | $1,732,012 | ||
Sankyu, Inc. | 22,600 | 897,518 | ||
$2,629,530 | ||||
Real Estate – 4.6% | ||||
Grand City Properties S.A. | 141,113 | $3,344,759 | ||
Life Storage, Inc., REIT | 18,282 | 2,415,783 | ||
Public Storage, Inc., REIT | 5,762 | 1,886,364 | ||
Sun Communities, Inc., REIT | 14,506 | 2,735,542 | ||
$10,382,448 | ||||
Restaurants – 3.6% | ||||
McDonald's Corp. | 10,540 | $2,578,084 | ||
Starbucks Corp. | 38,511 | 4,222,346 | ||
Yum China Holdings, Inc. | 29,426 | 1,474,243 | ||
$8,274,673 | ||||
Specialty Chemicals – 1.4% | ||||
Symrise AG | 22,657 | $3,199,067 |
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Portfolio of Investments (unaudited) – continued
Issuer | Shares/Par | Value ($) | ||
Common Stocks – continued | ||||
Specialty Stores – 1.0% | ||||
AutoZone, Inc. (a) | 566 | $1,028,461 | ||
Target Corp. | 5,021 | 1,224,321 | ||
$2,252,782 | ||||
Telecommunications - Wireless – 4.2% | ||||
Advanced Info Service Public Co. Ltd. | 599,600 | $3,665,482 | ||
KDDI Corp. | 142,900 | 4,161,773 | ||
PLDT, Inc. | 48,080 | 1,603,144 | ||
$9,430,399 | ||||
Tobacco – 0.8% | ||||
British American Tobacco PLC | 26,263 | $881,621 | ||
Japan Tobacco, Inc. | 50,300 | 1,007,297 | ||
$1,888,918 | ||||
Trucking – 1.2% | ||||
Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings, Inc. | 26,851 | $1,537,220 | ||
United Parcel Service, Inc., “B” | 5,853 | 1,161,059 | ||
$2,698,279 | ||||
Utilities - Electric Power – 5.4% | ||||
American Electric Power Co., Inc. | 23,405 | $1,896,975 | ||
CLP Holdings Ltd. | 611,000 | 5,975,654 | ||
Duke Energy Corp. | 8,886 | 862,031 | ||
Evergy, Inc. | 16,607 | 1,051,223 | ||
Xcel Energy, Inc. | 39,301 | 2,504,653 | ||
$12,290,536 | ||||
Total Common Stocks | $222,720,209 | |||
Preferred Stocks – 0.8% | ||||
Computer Software - Systems – 0.8% | ||||
Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. | 35,370 | $1,912,202 | ||
Investment Companies (h) – 0.6% | ||||
Money Market Funds – 0.6% | ||||
MFS Institutional Money Market Portfolio, 0.05% (v) | 1,295,044 | $1,295,044 | ||
Other Assets, Less Liabilities – 0.3% | 657,292 | |||
Net Assets – 100.0% | $226,584,747 |
(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 $1,295,044 and $224,632,411, 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: | |
ADR | American Depositary Receipt |
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.
4
Supplemental Information
11/30/21 (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 values of foreign securities and other assets and liabilities expressed in foreign currencies are converted to U.S. dollars using the mean of bid and asked prices for rates provided by a third-party pricing service.
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 November 30, 2021 in valuing the fund's assets and liabilities:
Financial Instruments | Level 1 | Level 2 | Level 3 | Total |
Equity Securities: | ||||
United States | $115,213,773 | $— | $— | $115,213,773 |
Japan | 975,752 | 23,097,837 | — | 24,073,589 |
Canada | 14,696,517 | — | — | 14,696,517 |
Switzerland | 10,836,159 | 1,321,225 | — | 12,157,384 |
Hong Kong | 4,030,355 | 5,975,654 | — | 10,006,009 |
Taiwan | 6,646,271 | — | — | 6,646,271 |
Germany | 6,543,826 | — | — | 6,543,826 |
Denmark | — | 6,319,292 | — | 6,319,292 |
United Kingdom | 792,064 | 4,063,671 | — | 4,855,735 |
Other Countries | 11,743,407 | 12,376,608 | — | 24,120,015 |
Mutual Funds | 1,295,044 | — | — | 1,295,044 |
Total | $172,773,168 | $53,154,287 | $— | $225,927,455 |
For further information regarding security characteristics, see the Portfolio of Investments.
5
Supplemental Information (unaudited) – continued
(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 | $517,066 | $11,911,888 | $11,133,910 | $— | $— | $1,295,044 |
Affiliated Issuers | Dividend Income | Capital Gain Distributions |
MFS Institutional Money Market Portfolio | $129 | $— |
(3) Issuer Country Weightings
Issuer country weighting percentages of portfolio holdings based on net assets, as of November 30, 2021, are as follows:
United States | 51.7% |
Japan | 10.6% |
Canada | 6.5% |
Switzerland | 5.4% |
Hong Kong | 4.4% |
Taiwan | 2.9% |
Germany | 2.9% |
Denmark | 2.8% |
United Kingdom | 2.1% |
Other Countries | 10.7% |
(4) 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. Multiple surges in cases globally, the availability and widespread adoption of vaccines, and the emergence of variant strains of the virus continue to create uncertainty as to the future and long-term impacts resulting from the pandemic including impacts to the prices and liquidity of the fund's investments and the fund's performance.
6