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Ariel Appreciation Fund

Ariel’s flagship value approach is built on the principle of targeting mid-cap undervalued companies that show a strong potential for growth.

Investor Class
Ariel Appreciation Fund (Investor Class)
Ticker CAAPX
Daily NAV (as of 03/18/2024) 38.82
Inception Date 12/01/1989
Fund Assets (as of 12/31/2023) $1.1 billion
Cusip 040337206
Minimum Initial Investment $1,000
Dividends and Distributions Annually
Expense Ratio* 1.13%
Institutional Class
Ariel Appreciation Fund (Institutional Class)
Ticker CAAIX
Daily NAV (as of 03/18/2024) 38.93
Inception Date 12/30/2011
Fund Assets (as of 12/31/2023) $1.1 billion
Cusip 040337834
Minimum Initial Investment $1,000,000
Dividends and Distributions Annually
Expense Ratio* 0.82%

Our Portfolio Managers

John (1)
John W. Rogers, Jr.

Founder, Chairman, Co-CEO and Chief Investment Officer

TIM_FIDLER_optimized
Timothy Fidler, CFA®

Executive Vice President

Products_Domestic_Philosophy(2)(optimized)

We embrace

Active patience

Long investment horizon
Lower turnover
Margin of safety*

Independent thinking

Contrarian point of view
Benchmark agnostic
Volatility equals opportunity

Focused expertise

Small and mid-cap value specialists
Deep industry knowledge
Bottom-up stock selection

Bold teamwork

Long-tenured colleagues
Collective experience leveraged
Aligned incentives
Inclusion

We reject

Short termism

Trading mentality
Risk on/risk off investing
Overpaying

Group think

Conventional wisdom
Closet indexing
Volatility equals risk

All-purpose strategies

Go anywhere approaches
Thematic investing
Macro-economic prognostications

Individualism

Job hoppers
Smartest in the room mentality
Winner takes all
Elitism

*Attempting to purchase a stock with a margin of safety does not protect investors from the loss of their investment, volatility associated with stocks, declining fundamentals, external forces, or our incorrect assumptions.

Industry Weightings

Weightings table for Ariel Appreciation Fund
(as of 12/31/2023)
(as of 12/31/2023) Ending Weight (%) Russell Midcap® Value Index (%) Russell Midcap® Index (%) S&P 500® Index (%)
Financials
Ending Weight (%)
26.06
Russell Midcap® Value Index (%)
15.75
Russell Midcap® Index (%)
13.87
S&P 500® Index (%)
10.07
Consumer Discretionary
Ending Weight (%)
24.75
Russell Midcap® Value Index (%)
13.33
Russell Midcap® Index (%)
14.70
S&P 500® Index (%)
14.48
Industrials
Ending Weight (%)
21.70
Russell Midcap® Value Index (%)
22.53
Russell Midcap® Index (%)
21.89
S&P 500® Index (%)
12.26
Health Care
Ending Weight (%)
10.84
Russell Midcap® Value Index (%)
6.84
Russell Midcap® Index (%)
9.57
S&P 500® Index (%)
12.01
Real Estate
Ending Weight (%)
4.87
Russell Midcap® Value Index (%)
10.59
Russell Midcap® Index (%)
7.99
S&P 500® Index (%)
2.52
Consumer Staples
Ending Weight (%)
4.39
Russell Midcap® Value Index (%)
3.66
Russell Midcap® Index (%)
3.68
S&P 500® Index (%)
5.04
Energy
Ending Weight (%)
3.88
Russell Midcap® Value Index (%)
5.52
Russell Midcap® Index (%)
5.20
S&P 500® Index (%)
3.98
Utilities
Ending Weight (%)
2.25
Russell Midcap® Value Index (%)
7.85
Russell Midcap® Index (%)
5.66
S&P 500® Index (%)
2.59
Short-Term Investments
Ending Weight (%)
1.08
Russell Midcap® Value Index (%)
0.00
Russell Midcap® Index (%)
0.00
S&P 500® Index (%)
0.00
Basic Materials
Ending Weight (%)
0.00
Russell Midcap® Value Index (%)
4.36
Russell Midcap® Index (%)
3.44
S&P 500® Index (%)
1.77
Technology
Ending Weight (%)
0.00
Russell Midcap® Value Index (%)
8.89
Russell Midcap® Index (%)
13.42
S&P 500® Index (%)
33.04
Telecommunications
Ending Weight (%)
0.00
Russell Midcap® Value Index (%)
0.69
Russell Midcap® Index (%)
0.58
S&P 500® Index (%)
2.25

Disclosures related to the data above can be found at the bottom of this page.

The following disclosures provide definitions relevant to the Key Facts / General Information about this Product, its Performance tables, Top 10 Positions tables, and Industry or Sector Weightings data tables shown above.

Investing in mid-cap stocks is more risky and volatile than investing in large-cap stocks. The intrinsic value of the stocks in which the Fund invests may never be recognized by the broader market. Ariel Appreciation Fund is often concentrated in fewer sectors than its benchmarks, and its performance may suffer if these sectors underperform the overall stock market. Investing in equity stocks is risky and subject to the volatility of the markets.

Performance data quoted represents past performance. Past performance does not guarantee future results. All performance assumes the reinvestment of dividends and capital gains. The investment return and principal value of an investment will fluctuate so that an investor’s shares, when redeemed, may be worth more or less than their original cost. Current performance may be lower or higher than the performance data quoted.

Indexes are unmanaged. An investor cannot invest directly in an index.

The Russell Midcap® Value Index measures the performance of the mid-cap value segment of the U.S. equity universe. It includes those Russell Midcap Index companies with lower price-to-book ratios, lower forecasted growth values and lower sales per share historical growth. Its inception date is February 1, 1995.

The Russell Midcap® Index measures the performance of the mid-cap segment of the U.S. equity universe. The Russell Midcap Index is a subset of the Russell 1000® Index. It includes approximately 800 of the smallest securities based on a combination of their market cap and current index membership. Its inception date is November 1, 1991.

Russell® is a trademark of London Stock Exchange Group, which is the source and owner of the Russell Indexes’ trademarks, service marks and copyrights. Neither Russell nor its licensors accept any liability for any errors or omissions in the Russell Indexes or underlying data and no party may rely on any Russell Indexes and/or underlying data contained in this communication. No further distribution of Russell data is permitted without Russell’s express written consent. Russell does not promote, sponsor or endorse the content of this communication.

The S&P 500® Index is widely regarded as the best gauge of large-cap U.S. equities. It includes 500 leading companies and covers approximately 80% of available U.S. market capitalization. Its inception date is March 4, 1957.

Average Annual Total Return does not reflect a maximum 4.75% sales load charged prior to 07/15/94.

Ending Weight is the value of the holding relative to the portfolio’s total assets as of the report date.