Overall Morningstar Rating™ as of 6/30/10, out of 321 small value funds (read more...) Morningstar Proprietary Ratings™ reflect historical risk-adjusted performance as of June 30, 2010. The overall Morningstar Rating for a fund is derived from a weighted average of the performance figures associated with its 3-, 5-, and 10-year Morningstar Rating™ metrics.
The Value Plus Fund seeks long-term capital appreciation by investing in small, dividend-paying companies.
The Value Plus Fund seeks to capture the long-term capital appreciation of small-cap stocks, while potentially mitigating volatility by focusing on dividend-paying companies. The Fund utilizes our disciplined and time-tested 10 Principles of Value Investing™ framework to identify companies with the potential for appreciation and a potential margin of safety to limit downside risk.
Dividends have played an important role in historical returns. With almost 40% of the Russell 2000 Value Index paying a dividend, there are plenty of stocks to choose from. Dividend paying small-cap stocks have outperformed non-dividend payors by 1.2% per year since 1991*. Historically, dividend paying stocks have been less volatile than non-dividend paying stocks.
Over time, the stocks of small and very small companies have historically outperformed their larger counterparts, offering investors higher return potential. With a focus on dividend paying stocks the Fund seeks to also reduce the volatility of small-cap companies.
Heartland’s experienced portfolio management team follows the disciplined process called Heartland’s 10 Principles of Value Investing™ through which we evaluate stocks for consideration for a purchase or a sale. We focus our investments in what we consider to be well-managed companies with sound fundamental value and excellent appreciation potential.
Adam Peck, CFA & Brad Evans, CFA
"If you want the upside potential of small-cap stocks with less volatility, we believe you should consider the Heartland Value Plus Fund. With at least 80 percent of the stocks paying a dividend, we believe the portfolio is positioned for long-term appreciation and reduced volatility. Read our prospectus and review our returns to determine if the Heartland Value Plus Fund should be one of your primary small-cap investment choices."
— Brad Evans
The above individuals are Registered Representatives of ALPS Distributors, Inc.
* Merrill Lynch Small Cap Research
©2010 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. The information contained herein: (1) is proprietary to Morningstar and/or its content providers; (2) may not be copied or distributed; and (3) is not warranted to be accurate, complete or timely. Neither Morningstar nor its content providers are responsible for any damages or losses arising from any use of this information. Past performance, rankings and ratings are no guarantee of future results. Rankings and ratings change monthly. Investment return and principal value will fluctuate so that your shares, when redeemed may be worth more or less than their original purchase price.
The Overall Morningstar Rating™ for a fund is derived from a weighted average of the performance figures associated with its 3-, 5-, and 10-year Morningstar Rating™ metrics. As of 6/30/10 the Value Plus Fund was rated against 321, 251 and 129 small value funds over the 3-, 5-, and 10-year periods and has received Morningstar's 5-star rating for the 3- and 5-year and 10-year periods. For each fund with at least a 3-year history, Morningstar calculates a Morningstar Rating™ based on Morningstar's risk-adjusted return measure that accounts for variation in a fund's monthly performance (including the effects of sales charges, loads and redemption fees), placing more emphasis on downward variations and rewarding consistent performance. The top 10% of funds in a category receive 5 stars, the next 22.5% receive 4 stars, the next 35% receive 3 stars, the next 22.5% receive 2 stars and the bottom 10% receive 1 star. (Each share class is counted as a fraction of one fund within this scale and rated separately which may cause slight variations in the distribution percentages.) The Morningstar Ratings™ are for the specified share class; other classes may have different performance characteristics.
Past performance does not guarantee future results. To obtain performance information current to the most recent month end, please visit the Funds' Returns pages of our website, or call 1-800-432-7856.
The Value Plus Fund invests in stocks of small companies that generally are more volatile and less liquid than those of larger companies. Value-based investments are subject to the risk that the broad market may not recognize their intrinsic values. The Fund also invests in a smaller number of stocks (generally 30 to 60) than the average mutual fund. The performance of these holdings generally will increase the volatility of the Fund’s returns.
The Value Plus Fund seeks long-term capital appreciation and modest current income.
There is no assurance that dividend-paying stocks will mitigate volatility.
Russell 2000 Value Index measures the performance of those Russell 2000 companies with lower price-to-book ratios and lower forecasted growth values. All indices are unmanaged. It is not possible to invest directly in an index.
CFA is a trademark owned by CFA Institute.
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