Morningstar - Q4 2021 - 63

Strategies
Many Strengths
Boston Trust Walden Small Cap is a strong ESG-oriented offering.
Andrew Daniels
BEST IDEAS: MANAGER
This article is adapted from the fund's Morningstar Global Fund Report dated
Sept. 28, 2021.
Boston Trust Walden Small Cap BOSOX benefits from a strong investment
team and a robust and differentiated approach. Its lone share class earns a
Morningstar Analyst Rating of Silver.
Kenneth Scott has led this strategy since its December 2005 inception. He has
been with Boston Trust Walden since 1999 and serves as the firm's co-CEO.
He's been supported by comanagers Richard Williams and Leanne Moore since
May 2017 and February 2020, respectively. The trio boasts an impressive
27 years of investment experience on average, and they collegially manage the
portfolio. Backing the managers-who also serve as analysts researching
stocks-are two small-/mid-cap-focused analysts Aaron Ziulkowski and
Yun Cao, as well as the firm's six-member in-house environmental, social, and
governance team. While manager ownership could be better-none of
the managers invests more than $500,000 in the offering-they each own
equity in the firm, helping align interests with end investors.
Alongside a solid team is a process, which incorporates exclusionary ESG
screens, that really distinguishes itself when it comes to risk management. The
managers home in on well-managed firms with sustainable and predictable
earnings profiles, as evidenced by its consistently higher returns on invested
capital and net margins with lower leverage ratios compared with the
Russell 2000 Index and typical small-blend Morningstar Category peer. But
the team is also valuation-conscious, contributing to raw value-growth scores
that are generally in line with the index and peers. A desire to have stock
selection drive returns across the entire portfolio keeps individual position
sizes below 2.5% and sector bets in line with the index.
This confluence of factors has resulted in a portfolio that consistently ranks
among the least-volatile options in the category, contributing to an excellent
long-term track record on a risk-adjusted basis. Since the fund's December
2005 inception through August 2021, its Sharpe ratio of 0.59 trounced the
index's 0.50 and 97% of its peers. This strategy's underlying strengths inspire
confidence that such strong returns will continue. K
Andrew Daniels, CFA, CMA, is an associate director, U.S. equity strategies, at Morningstar
Research Services LLC.
Boston Trust Walden Small Cap BOSOX
Stats 09/30/2021
Morningstar Analyst Rating
„
Fee Level
Above Avg
Process
Above Avg
Growth of 10K 09/30/2021
$15K
Boston Trust Walden Small Cap
12.82
14.15
12
9
10/2018
Value
Blend
10/2019
Morningstar Style Box 09/30/2021
Growth
Snapshot as
of most recent
portfolio.
Morningstar US Small Core
10/2020
Morningstar Ratings 09/30/2021
Period
Mstar
Return
3-Yr
5-Yr
10-Yr
Mstar
Risk
Above Avg Low
Above Avg Low
Average Low
Overall Rating
Top 5 Countries 08/31/2021
Country
p Industrials
y Financial Services
d Healthcare
a Technology
t Consumer Cyclical
■ Fund % ❙ Category Average %
18.2
16.0
10.2
0%
5
10
morningstar.com/lp/magazine
12.9
13.0
14.5 17.0
14.4
15
20
25
63
17.6
20.1
6
Morningstar Category
Small Blend
10-Yr Annlzd Return
10.42%
Morningstar Pillars 09/30/2021
People
Above Avg
Parent
Above Avg
Expense Ratio
1.00%
10-Yr % Rank in Cat
7
Mstar
Rating
QQQQQ
QQQQQ
QQQQ
QQQQQ
Small
Mid
Large

https://www.morningstar.com/authors/1974/andrew-daniels https://www.morningstar.com/funds/xnas/bosox/quote https://www.morningstar.com/authors/1974/andrew-daniels http://www.morningstar.com/lp/magazine

Morningstar - Q4 2021

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