497K 1 d171645d497k.htm FORM 497K Form 497K

00259907

 

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DODGE & COX FUNDS®

 

May 1, 2021

Emerging Markets Stock Fund

 

Summary Prospectus

Emerging Markets Stock Fund (DODEX)

ESTABLISHED   2  0  2  1

 

 

 

DODGE & COX EMERGING MARKETS STOCK FUND PAGE 1


Dodge & Cox Emerging Markets Stock Fund

Investment Objectives

The Fund seeks long-term growth of principal and income.

Fees and Expenses

This table describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy, hold and sell shares of the Fund. You may pay other fees, such as brokerage commissions and other fees to financial intermediaries, which are not reflected in the tables and examples below.

 

Shareholder Fees

(fees paid directly from your investment)

      

Sales charge (load) imposed on purchases

    None  

Deferred sales charge (load)

    None  

Sales charge (load) imposed on reinvested distributions

    None  

Redemption fee

    None  

Exchange fee

    None  

 

Annual Fund Operating Expenses

(expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)

 

Management fees

    0.60

Distribution and/or service (12b-1) fees

    None  

Other expenses (transfer agent, custody, accounting, legal, etc.)*

    0.76
 

 

 

 

Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses**

    1.36

Expense Reimbursement**

    0.66
 

 

 

 

Net Expenses**

    0.70

 

*   Other expenses are based on estimated amounts for the current fiscal year.
**   Dodge & Cox has contractually agreed to reimburse the Fund for all ordinary expenses to the extent necessary to maintain Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses at 0.70% until April 30, 2022. This agreement cannot be terminated prior to April 30, 2022 other than by resolution of the Fund’s Board of Trustees. The term of the agreement renews annually unless terminated with 30 days’ written notice by either party prior to the end of the term. The agreement does not permit Dodge & Cox to recoup any fees waived or payments made to the Fund other than to the extent the total amount of such fee waivers and payments during a year exceeds the amount needed to limit the Fund’s total expenses for that year to 0.70%.

Example: This example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the Fund with the cost of investing in other mutual funds.

The example assumes that:

  You invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then redeem all of your shares at the end of those time periods;
  Your investment has a 5% return each year;
  The Fund’s operating expenses remain the same; and
  Dodge & Cox or the Fund terminates the expense reimbursement agreement as of April 30, 2022.

Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:

 

1 Year     3 Years  
$ 72     $ 366  

Portfolio Turnover

The Fund incurs transaction costs, such as commissions, when Dodge & Cox buys and sells securities (or “turns over” the portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs and may result in higher taxes when Fund shares are held in a taxable account. These transaction costs, which are not reflected in annual Fund operating expenses or in the example, affect the Fund’s performance. Because the Fund had not commenced operations as of the most recent fiscal year end, no portfolio turnover rate is available for the Fund.

Principal Investment Strategies

The Fund invests primarily in a diversified portfolio of emerging markets equity securities issued by companies from at least three different countries. The Fund is not required to allocate its investments in set percentages in particular countries. Under normal circumstances, the Fund will invest at least 80% of its total assets in equity securities of emerging market issuers. Derivative transactions that have economic characteristics similar to such equity securities are included in the Fund’s 80% investment policy. Emerging market issuers include those located in emerging market countries and those determined by Dodge & Cox to have significant economic exposure to emerging market countries. For purposes of its 80% investment policy, Dodge & Cox will consider all countries that are not part of the MSCI Developed Market Indexes (including both emerging markets and frontier markets countries) to be emerging market countries. In determining whether an issuer is located in or has significant economic exposure to an emerging market country, Dodge & Cox will consider the issuer’s country of organization, the location of its management, the country of its primary listing, its reporting currency, and whether the issuer has significant assets in, or derives significant revenues or profits from, emerging market countries. The Fund may use derivatives, such as futures, options, and swaps either to create exposure to equity securities or to hedge against exposure created by its other investments. The Fund may gain exposure to emerging market issuers by investing in exchange-traded funds (“ETFs”). The Fund may use currency forward contracts, currency swaps, or currency futures contracts to hedge direct and/or indirect foreign currency exposure.

The Fund may invest in companies of any size, including large-, medium-, and small-cap companies. In selecting investments, the Fund typically invests in companies that, in Dodge & Cox’s opinion, appear to be temporarily undervalued by the stock market but have a favorable outlook for long-term growth. Dodge & Cox relies on fundamental research to select investments for the Fund’s portfolio, supplemented by financial screening models that help identify companies from within the Fund’s investment universe for further consideration by research analysts. The Fund focuses on the underlying financial condition and prospects of individual companies, including future earnings, cash flow, and dividends. Various other factors, including financial strength, economic condition, competitive advantage, quality of the business franchise, relevant environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues, and the reputation, experience, and competence of a company’s management are weighed against valuation in selecting individual securities. The Fund also considers the economic and political stability of the country where the issuer is located and the protections provided to shareholders.

 

 

PAGE 2 DODGE & COX EMERGING MARKETS STOCK FUND  


Principal Risks of Investing

You could lose money by investing in the Fund, and the Fund could underperform other investments. You should expect the Fund’s share price and total return to fluctuate within a wide range. The Fund’s performance could be hurt by:

  Equity risk. Equity securities can be volatile and may decline in value because of changes in the actual or perceived financial condition of their issuers or other events affecting their issuers.
  Market risk. Investment prices may increase or decrease, sometimes suddenly and unpredictably, due to general market conditions. Local, regional or global events such as war, acts of terrorism, the spread of infectious illness or other public health issue, recessions, or other events could also have a significant impact on the Fund and its investments and potentially increase the risks described herein.
  Manager risk. Dodge & Cox’s opinion about the intrinsic worth or creditworthiness of a company or security may be incorrect or the market may continue to undervalue the company or security. Depending on market conditions, Dodge & Cox’s investing style may perform better or worse than portfolios managed with a different investment style. Dodge & Cox may not make timely purchases or sales of securities for the Fund. The Fund may underperform the broad market, relevant indices, or other funds with similar objectives and investment strategies. Financial models used by the Fund to help identify potential investments may not adequately account for all relevant factors, may rely on inaccurate data inputs or assumptions or may contain design flaws which could negatively impact the Fund’s performance.
  Emerging markets risk. Emerging market securities may present issuer, market, currency, liquidity, volatility, valuation, legal, political, and other risks different from, and potentially greater than, the risks of investing in securities of issuers in more developed markets. Emerging markets may have less established legal, accounting, and financial reporting systems than those in more developed markets, which may reduce the scope or quality of financial information available to investors. In addition, companies in emerging markets may be subject to less stringent standards on disclosure, accounting and financial reporting, and recordkeeping, which may affect the Fund’s ability to evaluate potential and current investments. Governments in emerging market countries may be less stable and more likely to take extra-legal action with respect to companies, industries, assets, or foreign ownership than those in more developed markets. Moreover, investor protection regimes may be more limited in emerging markets. For example, it may be more difficult for shareholders to bring derivative litigation or for U.S. regulators to bring enforcement actions against issuers in emerging markets. Because the Fund focuses its investments in emerging market securities, it may have a limited ability to mitigate losses in an environment that is adverse to emerging market securities in general. Emerging market securities may also be more volatile, more difficult to value, and have lower overall liquidity than securities economically tied to U.S. or developed non-U.S. markets.
  Frontier market risk. Frontier markets generally have smaller economies and less mature capital markets than emerging markets. As a result, the risks associated with investing in emerging market
   

countries are magnified in frontier markets. Frontier markets are more susceptible to abrupt changes in currency value, have less mature settlement practices, and can have lower trading volumes that can lead to more price volatility and lower liquidity.

  Non-U.S. investment risk. Securities of non-U.S. issuers (including ADRs, ADSs, GDRs and other securities that represent interests in a non-U.S. issuer’s securities) may be more volatile, harder to value, and have lower overall liquidity than U.S. securities. Non-U.S. issuers may be subject to political, economic, or market instability, or unfavorable government action in their local jurisdictions or economic sanctions or other restrictions imposed by U.S. or foreign regulators. There may be less information publicly available about non-U.S. issuers and their securities, and those issuers may be subject to lower levels of government regulation and oversight. Non-U.S. stock markets may decline due to conditions specific to an individual country, including unfavorable economic conditions relative to the United States. The Fund generally holds non-U.S. securities and cash in foreign banks and securities depositories, which may be recently organized or new to the foreign custody business and may be subject to only limited or no regulatory oversight. There may be increased risk of delayed transaction settlement. These risks may be higher when investing in emerging and frontier markets. Certain of these elevated risks may also apply to securities of U.S. issuers with significant non-U.S. operations.
  Non-U.S. currency risk. Non-U.S. currencies may decline relative to the U.S. dollar, which reduces the unhedged value of securities denominated in or otherwise exposed to those currencies. Dodge & Cox may not hedge or may not be successful in hedging the Fund’s currency exposure. Dodge & Cox may not be able to determine accurately the extent to which a security or its issuer is exposed to currency risk. Emerging and frontier market currencies may be more volatile than currencies of more developed countries.
  China investment risk. Investments in Chinese securities may be more vulnerable to political and economic risks than investments in securities from other countries. The Chinese government has historically exercised substantial control over China’s economy and financial markets. Although economic reforms have recently liberalized trade policy and reduced government control, changes in these policies could adversely affect Chinese companies or investments in those companies. Changes in government policy could also substantially affect the value of China’s currency relative to the U.S. dollar. The Chinese economy is highly dependent on exporting products and services and could experience a significant slowdown if there is a reduction in global demand for Chinese exports or as the result of trade tensions with the United States or other key trading partners.
  Geographic Risk. From time to time the Fund may invest a substantial amount of its assets in issuers located in a single country or a limited number of countries. If the Fund focuses its investments in this manner, risks relating to economic, political and social conditions in those countries will have a significant impact on its investment performance. The Fund’s investment performance may be more volatile if it focuses its investments in certain countries, especially emerging market or frontier market countries.
 

 

  DODGE & COX EMERGING MARKETS STOCK FUND n PAGE 3


  Liquidity risk. The Fund may not be able to purchase or sell a security in a timely manner or at desired prices or achieve its desired weighting in a security. Liquidity risk may be greater in emerging and frontier markets than in more developed markets.
  Small-Cap Securities Risk. Small cap companies may be more volatile and subject to greater short term risk than larger, more established companies. They are likely to be less liquid than companies with larger market capitalizations, which could affect the overall liquidity of the Fund’s portfolio. In addition, smaller companies may have more limited product lines or markets, be less financially secure, and depend on a more limited management group than larger companies. It may be difficult to evaluate the potential for long-term growth of smaller companies.
  Derivatives risk. Investing with derivatives, such as equity futures, options, and swaps; and currency forwards, swaps, and futures, involves risks additional to and possibly greater than those associated with investing directly in securities. The Fund’s use of derivatives may result in losses to the Fund, a reduction in the Fund’s returns and/or increased volatility. Derivative transactions can create leverage, which means adverse changes in the value of the underlying asset or indicator could cause the Fund to lose substantially more than the amount of assets initially invested in the derivative itself. The value of a derivative may not correlate to the value of the underlying asset or indicator to the extent expected. Derivatives can be difficult to value. The Fund may not be able to close a derivative position at an advantageous time or price. For over-the-counter derivatives transactions, the counterparty may be unable or unwilling to make required payments and deliveries, especially during times of financial market distress. Derivative positions may create margin requirements, and if the
   

Fund has insufficient cash on hand to meet such requirements, it may have to sell securities from its portfolio at a time when it may be disadvantageous to do so. The treatment of derivatives under securities and tax laws may be less certain than it is for other types of investments. Changes in regulation relating to the use of derivatives may make derivatives more costly, limit the availability of derivatives, or otherwise adversely affect the value or performance of derivatives and the Fund.

  Large shareholder risk. Ownership of shares of the Fund may be concentrated in one or a few large investors. Such investors may redeem shares in large quantities or on a frequent basis. Redemptions by a large investor may affect the performance of the Fund, may increase realized capital gains, may accelerate the realization of taxable income to shareholders and may increase transaction costs. These transactions potentially limit the use of any capital loss carry-forwards and certain other losses to offset future realized capital gains (if any). Such transactions may also increase the Fund’s expenses. In addition, the Fund may be delayed in investing new cash after a large shareholder purchase, and under such circumstances may be required to maintain a larger cash position than it ordinarily would.

An investment in the Fund is not a deposit of a bank and is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other government agency.

Performance Information

As the Fund had not operated for a full calendar year as of the date of the Prospectus, there is no performance information quoted for the Fund. Visit the Fund’s website at dodgeandcox.com or call 800-621-3979 for current performance figures, once available..

 

Fund Management

Dodge & Cox serves as investment manager to the Emerging Markets Stock Fund. The Fund is managed by Dodge & Cox’s Emerging Markets Equity Investment Committee (“EMEIC”), which consists of the following six members:

 

Committee Member

  Primary Titles with Investment Manager   Years managing
the Fund/
Years with
Dodge & Cox
Charles F. Pohl   Chairman, Director, Chief Investment Officer, and member of U.S. Equity Investment Committee (“USEIC”)   */37
Diana S. Strandberg   Senior Vice President, Director, Director of International Equity, and member of International Equity Investment Committee (“IEIC”) and Global Equity Investment Committee (“GEIC”)   */33
Mario C. DiPrisco   Vice President, Research Analyst, and member of IEIC   */23
Sophie Chen   Vice President and Research Analyst   */10
Rameez Dossa   Vice President and Research Analyst   */9
Robert S. Turley   Vice President and Research Analyst   */9

 

*   Effective January 8, 2021

 

PAGE 4 DODGE & COX EMERGING MARKETS STOCK FUND  


Summary of Other Important Information About Fund Shares

 

Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares

The minimum initial investment for shares of a Fund is $2,500 ($1,000 for Individual Retirement Accounts (“IRAs”)) and the minimum subsequent investment is $100. The Funds reserve the right to waive minimum investment amounts for certain financial intermediaries that use the Funds as part of an asset allocation program, certain retirement plans, and accounts that hold the Funds in omnibus name. Financial intermediaries may impose their own minimum investment amounts.

You may withdraw (redeem) any part of your account by selling shares. The sale price of your shares will be the Fund’s next-determined net asset value after DST Asset Manager Solutions, Inc. (the “Transfer Agent”) or an authorized agent or sub-agent receives all required documents in good order. You may sell shares as described below:

  Online: Visit the Dodge & Cox Funds’ website at dodgeandcox.com, click on “Account Access” to log into your account and submit your request online.
  Mail: Visit Dodge & Cox Funds’ website at dodgeandcox.com and click on “Forms & Guides.” Download and complete the Redemption Request Form for a non-IRA and/or the IRA Distribution Request Form for an IRA. Mail the completed form(s) to “Dodge & Cox Funds, c/o DST Asset Manager Solutions, Inc., P.O. Box 219502, Kansas City, MO 64121-9502” to process your request(s).
  Phone: You may call Client Services at 800-621-3979 during business hours to place redemption or distribution requests for either a non-IRA or an IRA.

Tax Information

Each Fund will distribute substantially all of its income and capital gains to its shareholders every year. You will be taxed on dividends you receive from a Fund as ordinary income and/or capital gains unless you hold your Fund shares in a tax-deferred retirement account, such as an IRA, in which case you will generally be taxed only upon withdrawal of monies from the retirement account, or are otherwise tax exempt.

Payments to Financial Intermediaries

If you purchase a Fund through an employee benefit plan, Dodge & Cox may make payments to the recordkeeper, broker/dealer, bank, or other financial institution or organization (each a “Financial Intermediary”) that provides shareholder recordkeeping or other administrative services to the plan as compensation for those services. These payments may create a conflict of interest by influencing your Financial Intermediary to make available a Fund over other mutual funds or investments. You should ask your Financial Intermediary about differing and divergent interests and how it is compensated for administering your Fund investment.

 

 

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