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Ariel Focus Fund

Ariel’s focused value approach attempts to take advantage of infrequent but significant gaps between short-term price and long-term intrinsic value.

Investor Class
Ariel Focus Fund (Investor Class)
Ticker ARFFX
Daily NAV (as of 03/18/2024) 15.00
Inception Date 6/30/2005
Fund Assets (as of 12/31/2023) $68.0 million
Cusip 04035F107
Minimum Initial Investment $1,000
Dividends and Distributions Annually
Expense Ratio* 1.00%
Institutional Class
Ariel Focus Fund (Institutional Class)
Ticker AFOYX
Daily NAV (as of 03/18/2024) 15.03
Inception Date 12/30/2011
Fund Assets (as of 12/31/2023) $68.0 million
Cusip 040337826
Minimum Initial Investment $1,000,000
Dividends and Distributions Annually
Expense Ratio* 0.75%

Our Portfolio Manager

CHARLIE_BOBRINSKOY_optimized
Charles K. Bobrinskoy

Vice Chairman, Head of Investment Group

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

All-Cap value specialists
Deep industry knowledge
Bottom-up stock selection
Low price/earnings multiples

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
Selling on short-term certainty

All-purpose strategies

Momentum Investing
Companies “too hard” to understand
Macro-economic prognostications
High price/earnings multiples

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 Focus Fund
(as of 12/31/2023)
(as of 12/31/2023) Ending Weight (%) Russell 1000® Value Index (%) S&P 500® Index (%)
Industrials
Ending Weight (%)
27.22
Russell 1000® Value Index (%)
16.07
S&P 500® Index (%)
12.26
Financials
Ending Weight (%)
24.84
Russell 1000® Value Index (%)
20.20
S&P 500® Index (%)
10.07
Consumer Discretionary
Ending Weight (%)
15.24
Russell 1000® Value Index (%)
8.66
S&P 500® Index (%)
14.48
Energy
Ending Weight (%)
8.82
Russell 1000® Value Index (%)
7.86
S&P 500® Index (%)
3.98
Health Care
Ending Weight (%)
8.75
Russell 1000® Value Index (%)
13.92
S&P 500® Index (%)
12.01
Basic Materials
Ending Weight (%)
7.18
Russell 1000® Value Index (%)
3.60
S&P 500® Index (%)
1.77
Technology
Ending Weight (%)
4.79
Russell 1000® Value Index (%)
8.29
S&P 500® Index (%)
33.04
Short-Term Investments
Ending Weight (%)
3.40
Russell 1000® Value Index (%)
0.00
S&P 500® Index (%)
0.00
Consumer Staples
Ending Weight (%)
0.00
Russell 1000® Value Index (%)
7.29
S&P 500® Index (%)
5.04
Real Estate
Ending Weight (%)
0.00
Russell 1000® Value Index (%)
5.05
S&P 500® Index (%)
2.52
Telecommunications
Ending Weight (%)
0.00
Russell 1000® Value Index (%)
3.95
S&P 500® Index (%)
2.25
Utilities
Ending Weight (%)
0.00
Russell 1000® Value Index (%)
5.12
S&P 500® Index (%)
2.59

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.

Ariel Focus Fund is a non-diversified fund and therefore may be subject to greater volatility than a more diversified investment. The Fund is often concentrated in fewer sectors than its benchmarks, and its performance may suffer if these sectors underperform the overall stock market. The intrinsic value of the stocks in which the Fund invests may never be recognized by the broader market. Investing in small cap and mid-cap stocks is more risky and more volatile than investing in large cap stocks. 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 1000® Value Index measures the performance of the large-cap value segment of the U.S. equity universe. It includes those Russell 1000 companies with lower price-to-book ratios, lower forecasted growth values and lower sales per share historical growth. Its inception date is January 1, 1987.

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.

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

*Ariel Focus Fund, Investor Class:

As of February 1, 2024, the gross expense ratio for the Investor Class was 1.16%. Effective February 1, 2014, Ariel Investments, LLC, the Adviser, has contractually agreed to waive fees and reimburse expenses (the “Expense Cap”) in order to limit Ariel Focus Fund’s total annual operating expenses to 1.00% of net assets for the Investor Class through January 31, 2025. Prior to February 1, 2014, the Expense Cap was 1.25% of net assets for the Investor Class.

*Ariel Focus Fund, Institutional Class:

As of February 1, 2024, the gross expense ratio for the Institutional Class was 0.86%. Effective February 1, 2014, Ariel Investments, LLC, the Adviser, has contractually agreed to waive fees and reimburse expenses (the “Expense Cap”) in order to limit Ariel Focus Fund’s total annual operating expenses to 0.75% of net assets for the Institutional Class through January 31, 2025. Prior to February 1, 2014, the Expense Cap was 1.00% of net assets for the Institutional Class.