The Santa Barbara Conservative Growth portfolio's investment philosophy seeks to invest in high-quality companies demonstrating sustainable, strong earnings growth and attractive risk/reward profiles. We believe that a consistent, disciplined, research driven approach that focuses on the critical drivers of long-term value creation rather than short-term trends is essential to successful investing. A patient, but opportunistic approach which employs a risk/reward framework combined with a solid understanding of risk is the essence of our investment process.
Our investment team believes that equity market returns are driven by underlying earnings growth. We strive to build and aid wealth preservation by investing primarily in companies we believe have strong, sustainable long-term growth prospects. We compare the market's consensus growth to ours and seek to exploit the “opportunity gap” that may exist --those investments in which we expect more growth or for growth to last longer than the market expects.
Effective January 1, 2009, Rittenhouse Asset Management combined with its Nuveen
affiliate, Santa Barbara Asset Management, LLC. Rittenhouse's employees and products
will operate under the Santa Barbara name. Rittenhouse's flagship product, Rittenhouse
Large-Cap Growth Equity, has been renamed Santa Barbara Conservative Growth. The
investment team, investment philosophy and investment process will remain materially
unchanged.
All investments carry a certain degree of risk and an investment in any growth portfolio
should be made with an understanding of the risks involved with owning common stocks
or other equity securities. These risks include but are not limited to market risk
or the risk that stocks will decline in response to such factors as adverse company
news or industry developments or a general economic decline. In addition, certain
growth style portfolios may be concentrated in a specific sector thereby subjecting
the portfolio to additional risks. Growth style investing may fall out of favor
and underperform other styles of investing over any period of time. Certain sectors
or growth stocks may shift characteristics over a long market cycle and may not
perform in line with stated benchmarks. Risks associated with small- and midsize
company investing include potentially increased volatility with smaller companies.
This strategy may hold American Depositary Receipts (ADRs). ADRs are the receipts
for the shares of a foreign-based company traded on U.S. exchanges. The strategy's
potential investment in non-U.S. stocks presents risks such as political risk, exchange
rate risk and inflationary risk, which include the risks of economic change, social
unrest, changes in government relations, and different accounting standards. ADRs
do not eliminate the currency and economic risks for the underlying shares in another
country.
Past performance is no guarantee of future results. There can be no assurance that
the investment objectives will be achieved. It is important to review investment
objectives, risk tolerance, tax liabilities, and liquidity needs before choosing
a suitable investment style or manager.