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
Investor Class: 12/30/2011
Institutional Class: 12/30/2011
Investor Class: AINTX
Institutional Class: AINIX
$3.7 million as of 3/31/2013
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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 |
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.
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% | |
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.
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.

