Ariel International Equity Fund

Investment Objectives


  • To target superior absolute returns* (capital appreciation)

  • To target superior relative returns* (vs. benchmark)

  • To generate the above with lower risk (northwest quadrant performance)

  • To own undervalued, quality franchises

* over a full market cycle




Fund Facts
Market Cap Range: All Cap
Inception:
Investor Class: 12/30/2011
Institutional Class: 12/30/2011
Number of holdings: 40-75
Turnover: 50-75% (estimated)
Ticker Symbol:
Investor Class: AINTX
Institutional Class: AINIX
Fund Assets (all classes):
$3.7 million as of 3/31/2013
Portfolio Manager
Rupal Bhansali
Rupal J. Bhansali
Portfolio Manager
View Full Bio
Fund Spotlight
International and Global Portfolios
Meet Rupal J. Bhansali and hear her philosophy on global investing.

We employ a differentiated, repeatable four-part investment process that embeds risk management at every step.


Step 1: Screening
Aim to reduce risk by eliminating businesses more likely to fail or to be marginalized. This purges about 60% of the benchmark’s stocks.


Step 2: Research
Assess for how success will be sustained. The lead analyst digs far and wide and interacts with management (onsite and offsite) to form an informed, differentiated proprietary view of the industry and the business.


Step 3: Validation
Conduct scenario analyses and stress tests and examine valuation risk. A three-person team (lead analyst, devil’s advocate and fresh analyst) debates and critiques the thesis, financial forecasts and assesses valuation scenarios such as base, best and worst case.


Step 4: Portfolio Construction
Weigh the risks and rewards of each investment idea with a goal to build a high conviction stock portfolio with superior risk/reward characteristics. Resulting portfolios include 40 to 75 stocks.


 
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Sector Weightings (%) as of March 31, 2012

  Ariel International Equity Fund MSCI EAFE
Information Technology 22.64 4.34
Consumer Staples 20.00 12.34
Financials 19.32 24.85
Health Care 11.83 10.30
Consumer Discretionary 11.02 10.96
Telecommunication Services 5.76 4.93
Industrials 4.80 12.58
Energy 3.70 7.16
Utilities 0.94 3.67
Materials 0.00 8.86

Represents percentage of total equity holdings in the portfolio


MSCI EAFE® Index is an unmanaged, market-weighted index of companies in developed markets, excluding the U.S. and Canada. Source: MSCI. MSCI makes no express or implied warranties or representations and shall have no liability whatsoever with respect to any MSCI data contained herein. The MSCI data may not be further redistributed or used to create indices or financial products. This report is not approved or produced by MSCI.

> Investor Class
> Institutional Class
Quarter End
Month End

Ariel International Equity Fund Performance as of April 30, 2013

Inception date: December 30, 2011 Annualized
  One
Month
Three
Months
Year To
Date
One
Year
Since
Inception
Ariel International Equity Fund 4.94% 4.85% 9.01% 13.85% 10.13%
MSCI EAFE 5.33% 5.27% 10.84% 19.96% 22.21%

Ariel International Equity Fund Performance as of March 31, 2013

Inception date: December 30, 2011 Annualized
  One
Month
Three
Months
Year To
Date
One
Year
Since
Inception
Ariel International Equity Fund 1.32% 3.88% 3.88% 3.02% 6.64%
MSCI EAFE 0.88% 5.23% 5.23% 11.79% 18.80%

> Compare Performance for all our Funds

Net Expense Ratio as of the fiscal year ended 9/30/12: 1.40%*
Gross Expense Ratio as of the fiscal year ended 9/30/12: 17.00%*

*Annualized. Ariel Investments, LLC, the Adviser, is contractually obligated to waive fees or reimburse expenses in order to limit Ariel International Equity Fund’s total annual operating expenses to 1.40% of net assets for the Investor Class through the end of the fiscal year ending September 30, 2015. No termination of this agreement by either the Board of Trustees or the Adviser may be effective until, at the earliest, October 1, 2015.


Investments in foreign securities may underperform and may be more volatile than comparable U.S. stocks because of the risks involving foreign economies and markets, foreign political systems, foreign regulatory standards, foreign currencies and taxes. The use of currency derivatives and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) may increase investment losses and expenses and create more volatility. 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.


MSCI EAFE® Index is an unmanaged, market-weighted index of companies in developed markets, excluding the U.S. and Canada. Source: MSCI. MSCI makes no express or implied warranties or representations and shall have no liability whatsoever with respect to any MSCI data contained herein. The MSCI data may not be further redistributed or used to create indices or financial products. This report is not approved or produced by MSCI.


Investors should consider carefully the investment objectives, risks, and charges and expenses before investing. For a current summary prospectus or full prospectus which contains this and other information about the funds offered by Ariel Investment Trust, call us at 800-292-7435 or click here. Please read the summary prospectus or full prospectus carefully before investing. Distributed by Ariel Distributors, LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Ariel Investments, LLC.

Schedule of Holdings as of March 31, 2013

  Units Security Description Market Value % of Total Value
AUSTRIA     3,729 0.1
  77 Vienna Insurance Group AG 3,729 0.1
BRAZIL     10,032 0.3
  376 Telefonica Brasil SA ADR 10,032 0.3
CANADA     149,683 4.0
  127 Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd. 49,590 1.3
  1,364 Great-West Lifeco Inc. 36,562 1.0
  1,213 Power Financial Corp. 35,751 1.0
  347 Tim Hortons Inc. 18,859 0.5
  198 IGM Financial Inc. 8,921 0.2
CHINA     142,855 4.0
  1,106 China Mobile Ltd. ADR 58,762 1.6
  535 Baidu, Inc. ADR 46,920 1.3
  2,000 China Mobile Ltd. 21,166 0.6
  261 Mindray Medical Intl Ltd. 10,424 0.3
  458 Hollysys Automation Technologies Ltd. 5,583 0.2
CZECH REPUBLIC     12,410 0.3
  65 Komercni Banka AS 12,410 0.3
FINLAND     75,556 2.0
  16,168 Nokia Corp. ADR 53,031 1.4
  6,962 Nokia Corp. 22,525 0.6
FRANCE     70,083 1.8
  895 BNP Paribas SA 45,936 1.2
  564 Metropole Television M6 8,766 0.2
  223 Ipsen SA 7,977 0.2
  210 Eutelsat Communications 7,404 0.2
GERMANY     202,147 5.5
  2,484 Deutsche Boerse AG 150,434 4.1
  4,228 Infineon Technologies AG 33,385 0.9
  98 Muenchener Rueckversicherungs-Ges. AG 18,328 0.5
IRELAND     128,390 3.5
  3,073 Ryanair Holdings plc ADR 128,390 3.5
ITALY     83,643 2.3
  27,963 Mediaset SpA 57,100 1.6
  5,823 Snam SpA 26,543 0.7
JAPAN     741,414 20.1
  1,000 Nintendo Co., Ltd 107,824 2.9
  2,900 Japan Tobacco Inc. 92,574 2.5
  1,200 Murata Manufacturing Co., Ltd. 90,253 2.5
  699 Toyota Motor Corp. ADR 71,745 2.0
  1,700 Canon Inc. 62,304 1.7
  1,400 Tokyo Electron Ltd. 59,340 1.6
  180 OBIC Co. Ltd. 41,627 1.1
  1,054 Canon Inc. ADR 38,671 1.1
  1,400 Nomura Research Institute Ltd. 36,110 1.0
  400 Daito Trust Construction Co., Ltd. 34,249 0.9
  600 Toyota Motor Corp. 30,754 0.8
  700 Denso Corp. 29,559 0.8
  700 Chugai Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. 15,556 0.4
  400 Nikon Corp. 9,370 0.3
  936 Nintendo Co., Ltd ADR 12,580 0.3
  6 NTT DOCOMO, Inc. 8,898 0.2
LUXEMBOURG     7,443 0.2
  101 RTL Group SA 7,443 0.2
NETHERLANDS     166,317 4.5
  10,853 Koninklijke Ahold NV 166,317 4.5
NORWAY     43,001 1.2
  1,543 Gjensidige Forsikring ASA 25,533 0.7
  2,173 Orkla ASA 17,468 0.5
SPAIN     12,327 0.3
  1,034 Indra Sistemas SA 12,327 0.3
SWEDEN     14,658 0.4
  212 Autoliv Inc. 14,658 0.4
SWITZERLAND     376,138 10.2
  857 Roche Holding AG 199,512 5.4
  1,244 Nestle SA 89,962 2.4
  3,375 UBS AG 51,729 1.4
  381 Actelion Ltd 20,690 0.6
  67 Kuehne + Nagel International AG 7,305 0.2
  15 Swisscom AG 6,940 0.2
TURKEY     15,608 0.4
  938 Turkcell Iletisim Hizmetleri AS ADR 15,608 0.4
UNITED KINGDOM     559,275 15.2
  30,909 Tesco plc 179,194 4.9
  4,499 iShares MSCI United Kingdom Index ETF 82,197 2.2
  1,533 GlaxoSmithKline PLC ADR 71,913 2.0
  5,803 HSBC Holdings plc 61,942 1.7
  656 Royal Dutch Shell plc ADR 42,745 1.2
  1,033 Royal Dutch Shell plc 33,417 0.9
  5,263 British Telecom Group plc 22,231 0.6
  4,648 Wm. Morrison Supermarkets plc 19,506 0.5
  454 BT Group plc ADR 19,082 0.5
  7,893 Man Group plc 10,692 0.3
  1,163 Restaurant Group Plc 8,268 0.2
  346 GlaxoSmithKline plc 8,088 0.2
UNITED STATES     316,291 8.7
  105,812 Fixed Income Clearing Corporation 105,812 2.9
  2,896 Vanguard MSCI EAFE ETF 105,501 2.9
  853 Harman Intl Industries Inc. 38,069 1.0
  378 Schlumberger Ltd. 28,308 0.8
  853 TIBCO Software Inc. 17,248 0.5
  461 Gentex Corp. 9,225 0.3
  209 Vanguard MSCI Pacific ETF 12,128 0.3
Total Equities     3,131,000 85.0
Cash, Other Assets less Liabilities     553,861 15.0
Grand Total     3,684,861 100.0
Monthly Commentary: Perspectives on the current market
> Open the most recent Market Commentary

Quarterly Report: Quarterly performance update and communication to investors
> Open the most recent Ariel Investments Quarterly Report

Fact Sheets: Quarterly overview of fund objectives and performance summary
> Open the most recent Ariel International Equity Fund Fact Sheet
Past performance does not guarantee future results. © Ariel Investments, LLC. The mutual funds offered by Ariel Investment Trust are distributed by Ariel Distributors, LLC. Use of this website is subject to our Terms & Conditions of use. Each of the investment products, mutual funds or services referred to in this site may be offered only to persons in the United States. This web site should not be considered a solicitation or offering of any investment products, funds or services to investors outside the United States. Original illustrations © Omar Rayyan 2007.