| Parametric Emerging Markets Fund | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Investment Objective |
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The Fund’s investment objective is to seek long-term capital appreciation. |
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Fees and Expenses of the Fund |
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This table describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy and hold shares of the Fund. |
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Shareholder Fees (fees paid directly from your investment) |
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Annual Fund Operating Expenses (expenses you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment) |
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Example. |
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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 periods. The Example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the operating expenses remain the same. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be: |
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Portfolio Turnover |
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The Fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it 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 costs, which are not reflected in Annual Fund Operating Expenses or in the Example, affect the Fund’s performance. During the most recent fiscal year, the Fund's portfolio turnover rate was 3% of the average value of its portfolio. |
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Principal Investment Strategies |
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Under normal market conditions, the Fund invests at least 80% of its net assets in equity securities of companies located in emerging market countries (the “80% Policy”). A company will be considered to be located in an emerging market country if it is domiciled in or derives more than 50% of its revenues or profits from emerging market countries. Emerging market countries are generally countries not considered to be developed market countries, and therefore not included in the MSCI World Index. The Fund intends to invest primarily in securities of companies located in countries included in the MSCI Emerging Markets Index or the MSCI Frontier Markets Index. Securities acquired by the Fund are typically listed on stock exchanges in emerging market countries, but also may include securities traded in markets outside these countries, including securities trading in the form of depositary receipts. For purposes of the Fund’s 80% Policy, depositary receipts are considered as being located in emerging markets if the company is domiciled in or derives more than 50% of its revenues or profits from emerging market countries. The Fund may invest in securities of smaller, less seasoned companies. The Fund may also invest in convertible instruments, which will generally not be rated, but will typically be equivalent in credit quality to securities rated below investment grade (i.e., rated lower than BBB by Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services or Fitch Ratings, or lower than Baa by Moody’s Investors Service, Inc.). Such lower rated debt securities will not exceed 20% of the Fund’s total assets. More than 25% of the Fund’s total assets may be denominated in any single currency. The Fund may also invest in other pooled investment vehicles and may lend its securities. The Fund may engage in derivative transactions as a substitute for the purchase or sale of securities or currencies or to attempt to mitigate the adverse effects of foreign currency fluctuations. Such transactions may include forward foreign currency exchange contracts, options and equity-linked securities (such as participation notes, equity swaps and zero strike calls and warrants). The Fund seeks to employ a top-down, disciplined and systematic investment process that emphasizes broad exposure and diversification among emerging market countries, economic sectors and issuers. This rules-based strategy utilizes targeted allocation and systematic rebalancing to take advantage of certain quantitative and behavioral characteristics of emerging markets identified by the portfolio managers. The portfolio managers select and allocate across countries based on factors such as size, liquidity, level of economic development, local economic diversification, and perceived risk and potential for growth. The Fund maintains a bias to broad inclusion; that is, the Fund intends to allocate its portfolio holdings to more emerging market countries rather than fewer emerging market countries. Relative to capitalization-weighted country indexes, individual country allocation targets emphasize the less represented emerging market countries and attempts to reduce concentration risks relative to a capitalization-weighted index. The Fund’s country allocations are rebalanced to their target weights if they exceed a certain pre-determined overweight. The frequency of rebalancing depends on the volatility and trading costs of the individual country. This has the effect of reducing exposure to countries with strong relative performance and increasing exposure to countries which have underperformed. Within each country, the Fund seeks to maintain exposure across key economic sectors, such as industrial/technology, consumer, utilities, basic industry/resource and financial. Relative to capitalization-weighted country indexes, the portfolio managers target weights to these sectors to emphasize the less represented sectors. The portfolio managers select individual securities as representatives of their economic sectors and generally weight them by their relative capitalization within that sector. |
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Principal Risks |
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Equity Investing Risk. The Fund’s shares are sensitive to stock market volatility and the stocks in which the Fund invests may be more volatile than the stock market as a whole. The prices of stocks may decline in response to conditions affecting the general economy; overall market changes; local, regional or global political, social or economic instability; and currency, interest rate and commodity price fluctuations, as well as issuer or sector specific events. Market conditions may affect certain types of stocks to a greater extent than other types of stocks. If the stock market declines, the value of Fund shares will also likely decline and, although stock values can rebound, there is no assurance that values will return to previous levels. Foreign and Emerging Market Investment Risk. Because the Fund invests a significant portion of its assets in foreign instruments, the value of Fund shares can be adversely affected by changes in currency exchange rates and political, economic and market developments abroad. In emerging or less developed countries, these risks can be more significant. Investment markets in emerging market countries are typically substantially smaller, less liquid and more volatile than the major markets in developed countries. As a result, Fund share values may be more volatile than if the Fund invested only in developed markets. Emerging market countries may have relatively unstable governments and economies. Emerging market investments often are subject to speculative trading, which typically contributes to volatility. Trading in foreign and emerging markets typically involves higher expense than trading in the United States. The Fund may have difficulties enforcing its legal or contractual rights in a foreign country. The value of investments denominated in foreign currencies can be adversely affected by changes in foreign currency exchange rates. Depositary receipts are subject to many of the risks associated with investing directly in foreign securities including political, economic and market risks. Smaller Company Equity Risk. The stocks of smaller, less seasoned companies are generally subject to greater price fluctuations, limited liquidity, higher transaction costs and higher investment risk. Smaller, less seasoned companies may have limited product lines, markets or financial resources, may be dependent on a limited management group, and may lack substantial capital reserves or an established performance record. There may be generally less publicly available information about such companies than for larger, more established companies. Derivatives Risk. The use of derivatives can lead to losses because of adverse movements in the price or value of the asset, index, rate or instrument underlying a derivative, due to failure of a counterparty or due to tax or regulatory constraints. Derivatives may create economic leverage in the Fund, which magnifies the Fund’s exposure to the underlying investment. Derivatives risk may be more significant when derivatives are used to enhance return or as a substitute for a cash investment position, rather than solely to hedge the risk of a position held by the Fund. When derivatives are used to gain or limit exposure to a particular market or market segment, their performance may not correlate as expected to the performance of such market, thereby causing the Fund to fail to achieve its original purpose for using such derivatives. A decision as to whether, when and how to use derivatives involves the exercise of specialized skill and judgment, and a transaction may be unsuccessful in whole or in part because of market behavior or unexpected events. Derivative instruments may be difficult to value, may be illiquid, and may be subject to wide swings in valuation caused by changes in the value of the underlying instrument. If a derivative’s counterparty is unable to honor its commitments, the value of Fund shares may decline and the Fund could experience delays in the return of collateral or other assets held by the counterparty. The loss on derivative transactions may substantially exceed the initial investment. Fixed-Income and Convertible Security Risk. If the Fund invests in debt obligations or convertible securities, the Fund’s shares may be sensitive to increases in prevailing interest rates and the creditworthiness of issuers. An imbalance in supply and demand in the fixed-income market may result in valuation uncertainties and greater volatility, less liquidity, widening credit spreads and a lack of price transparency in the market. Debt obligations and convertible securities rated below investment grade and comparable unrated securities have speculative characteristics because of the credit risk associated with their issuers. Changes in economic conditions or other circumstances typically have a greater effect on the ability of issuers of lower rated investments to make principal and interest payments than they do on issuers of higher rated investments. An economic downturn generally leads to a higher non-payment rate, and a lower rated investment may lose significant value before a default occurs. Lower rated investments generally are subject to greater price volatility and illiquidity than higher rated investments. Securities Lending Risk. Securities lending involves possible delay in recovery of the securities or possible loss of rights in the collateral should the borrower fail financially. As a result, the value of Fund shares may fall and there may be a delay in recovering the loaned securities. The value of Fund shares could also fall if a loan is called and the Fund is required to liquidate reinvested collateral at a loss or if the investment adviser is unable to reinvest cash collateral at rates that exceed the costs involved. Rules-Based Management Risks. The sub-adviser uses proprietary investment techniques and analyses in making investment decisions for the Fund, seeking to achieve its investment objective while minimizing exposure to market risk. The strategy seeks to take advantage of certain quantitative and behavioral market characteristics identified by the sub-adviser, utilizing a rules-based country weighting process, a systematic sector allocation methodology and a disciplined rebalancing model. The Fund’s strategy has not been independently tested or validated, and there can be no assurance that it will achieve the desired results. General Fund Investing Risks. The Fund is not a complete investment program and you may lose money by investing in the Fund. All investments carry a certain amount of risk and there is no guarantee that the Fund will be able to achieve its investment objective. Annual Fund Operating Expenses expressed as a percentage of the Fund’s average daily net assets may change as Fund assets increase and decrease, and Annual Fund Operating Expenses may differ in the future. Purchase and redemption activities by Fund shareholders may impact the management of the Fund and its ability to achieve its investment objective. In addition, the redemption by one or more large shareholders or groups of shareholders of their holdings in the Fund could have an adverse impact on the remaining shareholders in the Fund. Investors in the Fund should have a long-term investment perspective and be able to tolerate potentially sharp declines in value. An investment in the Fund is not a deposit in a bank and is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other government agency, entity or person. Mutual funds, investment advisers, other market participants and many securities markets are subject to rules and regulations and the jurisdiction of one or more regulators. Changes to applicable rules and regulations could have an adverse affect on securities markets and market participants, as well as on the Fund’s ability to execute its investment strategy. |
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Performance |
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The following bar chart and table provide some indication of the risks of investing in the Fund by showing changes in the Fund’s performance from year to year and how the Fund’s average annual returns over time compare with those of a broad-based securities market index. The returns in the bar chart are for Investor Class shares. Past performance (both before and after taxes) is no guarantee of future results. The Fund’s performance for certain periods reflects the effects of expense reductions. Absent these reductions, performance would have been lower. Updated Fund performance information can be obtained by visiting www.eatonvance.com. |
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During the period from December 31, 2006 through December 31, 2012, the highest quarterly total return for Investor Class was 37.04% for the quarter ended June 30, 2009, and the lowest quarterly return was -30.11% for the quarter ended December 31, 2008. The year-to-date return through the end of the most recent calendar quarter (December 31, 2012 to March 31, 2013) was -0.27%. |
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Prior to March 1, 2013, purchases of Investor Class shares were subject to a sales charge. These returns reflect any applicable contingent deferred sales charge (“CDSC”) for Class C. Investor Class, Class C and Institutional Class commenced operations on June 30, 2006. Investors cannot invest directly in an Index. (Source for MSCI Emerging Markets Index: MSCI) MSCI data may not be reproduced or used for any other purpose. MSCI provides no warranties, has not prepared or approved this data, and has no liability hereunder. After-tax returns are calculated using the highest historical individual federal income tax rates and do not reflect the impact of state and local taxes. Actual after-tax returns depend on a shareholder’s tax situation and the actual characterization of distributions, and may differ from those shown. After-tax returns are not relevant to shareholders who hold shares in tax-deferred accounts or to shares held by nontaxable entities. After-tax returns for other Classes of shares will vary from the after-tax returns presented for Investor Class shares. Return After Taxes on Distributions for a period may be the same as Return Before Taxes for that period because no taxable distributions were made during that period. Also, Return After Taxes on Distributions and Sale of Fund Shares for a period may be greater than or equal to Return After Taxes on Distributions for the same period because of losses realized on the sale of Fund shares. |
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| Parametric Global Small-Cap Fund | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Investment Objective |
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The Fund’s investment objective is to seek long-term capital appreciation. |
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Fees and Expenses of the Fund |
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This table describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy and hold shares of the Fund. |
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Shareholder Fees (fees paid directly from your investment) |
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Annual Fund Operating Expenses (expenses you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment) |
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Example. |
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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 periods. The Example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the operating expenses remain the same. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be: |
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Portfolio Turnover |
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The Fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it 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 costs, which are not reflected in Annual Fund Operating Expenses or in the Example, affect the Fund’s performance. During the period from December 20, 2012 (commencement of operations) to January 31, 2013, the Fund's portfolio turnover rate was 13% of the average value of its portfolio. |
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Principal Investment Strategies |
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Under normal market conditions, the Fund invests at least 80% of its net assets in a diversified portfolio of small-cap companies located throughout the world, including the United States (the “80% Policy”). The portfolio managers generally consider small-cap companies to be companies having a market capitalization that falls within the range of companies included in the Russell Global 2000 Index (the “Index”). The Index is an unmanaged index of 2,000 companies located in the United States, and other developed and emerging market countries. The Fund expects to invest primarily in securities of issuers included in the Index. The Fund’s non-U.S. investments may include companies located in developed and/or emerging market countries. Under normal market conditions, the Fund will invest at least 40% of its net assets in companies located outside the United States or, if conditions are not deemed favorable by the portfolio managers, the Fund will invest at least 30% of its net assets in companies located outside the United States. A company will be considered to be located outside the United States if it is domiciled in or derives more than 50% of its revenues or profits from non-U.S. countries. The Fund may invest in securities trading in the form of depositary receipts. The Fund may also invest in other pooled investment vehicles. The Fund may engage in derivative transactions as a substitute for the purchase or sale of securities or currencies or to attempt to mitigate the adverse effects of foreign currency fluctuations. Such transactions may include forward foreign currency exchange contracts, options and equity-linked securities (such as participation notes, equity swaps and zero strike calls and warrants). The Fund seeks to employ a top-down, disciplined and systematic investment process that emphasizes broad exposure and diversification among small-cap companies located throughout the world, including the United States. This rules-based strategy utilizes targeted allocation and systematic rebalancing to take advantage of certain quantitative and behavioral characteristics of small-cap companies identified by the portfolio managers. The portfolio managers select and allocate to issuers based on factors such as size, liquidity, and perceived risk and potential for growth of the issuer. The Fund maintains a bias towards broad country inclusion; that is, the Fund intends to allocate its portfolio holdings to securities in more countries rather than fewer countries. The Fund’s security allocations are rebalanced to their target weights if they exceed certain pre-determined tolerance bounds. The frequency of rebalancing depends on the volatility and trading costs of the security. This has the effect of reducing exposure to securities in countries with strong relative performance and increasing exposure to securities in countries which have underperformed. In selecting securities, the Fund seeks to maintain exposure across key economic sectors. Relative to capitalization-weighted country indexes, the portfolio managers target weights to these sectors to emphasize the less represented sectors. The portfolio managers use an optimization model to select individual securities as representatives of their countries and economic sectors with the objective of minimizing portfolio risk, maintaining broad diversification and reducing overall portfolio volatility. |
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Principal Risks |
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Small Company Equity Risk. The stocks of small and emerging companies are generally subject to greater price fluctuations, limited liquidity, higher transaction costs and higher investment risk. Small and emerging companies may have limited product lines, markets or financial resources, may be dependent on a limited management group, and may lack substantial capital reserves or an established performance record. There may be generally less publicly available information about such companies than for larger, more established companies. Stocks of these companies frequently have lower trading volumes making them more volatile and potentially more difficult to value. Equity Investing Risk. The Fund’s shares are sensitive to stock market volatility and the stocks in which the Fund invests may be more volatile than the stock market as a whole. The prices of stocks may decline in response to conditions affecting the general economy; overall market changes; local, regional or global political, social or economic instability; and currency, interest rate and commodity price fluctuations, as well as issuer or sector specific events. Market conditions may affect certain types of stocks (such as small-cap stocks) to a greater extent than other types of stocks. If the stock market declines, the value of Fund shares will also likely decline and, although stock values can rebound, there is no assurance that values will return to previous levels. Foreign and Emerging Market Investment Risk. Because the Fund invests a significant portion of its assets in foreign instruments, the value of Fund shares can be adversely affected by changes in currency exchange rates and political, economic and market developments abroad. In emerging or less developed countries, these risks can be more significant. Investment markets in emerging market countries are typically substantially smaller, less liquid and more volatile than the major markets in developed countries. As a result, Fund share values may be more volatile than if the Fund invested only in developed markets. Emerging market countries may have relatively unstable governments and economies. Emerging market investments often are subject to speculative trading, which typically contributes to volatility. Trading in foreign and emerging markets typically involves higher expense than trading in the United States. The Fund may have difficulties enforcing its legal or contractual rights in a foreign country. The value of investments denominated in foreign currencies can be adversely affected by changes in foreign currency exchange rates. Depositary receipts are subject to many of the risks associated with investing directly in foreign securities including political and economic risks. Derivatives Risk. The use of derivatives can lead to losses because of adverse movements in the price or value of the asset, index, rate or instrument underlying a derivative, due to failure of a counterparty or due to tax or regulatory constraints. Derivatives may create economic leverage in the Fund, which magnifies the Fund’s exposure to the underlying investment. Derivatives risk may be more significant when derivatives are used to enhance return or as a substitute for a cash investment position, rather than solely to hedge the risk of a position held by the Fund. When derivatives are used to gain or limit exposure to a particular market or market segment, their performance may not correlate as expected to the performance of such market, thereby causing the Fund to fail to achieve its original purpose for using such derivatives. A decision as to whether, when and how to use derivatives involves the exercise of specialized skill and judgment, and a transaction may be unsuccessful in whole or in part because of market behavior or unexpected events. Derivative instruments may be difficult to value, may be illiquid, and may be subject to wide swings in valuation caused by changes in the value of the underlying instrument. If a derivative’s counterparty is unable to honor its commitments, the value of Fund shares may decline and the Fund could experience delays in the return of collateral or other assets held by the counterparty. The loss on derivative transactions may substantially exceed the initial investment. ETF Risk. Investing in an ETF exposes the Fund to all of the risks of that ETF’s investments and subjects it to a pro rata portion of the ETF’s fees and expenses. As a result, the cost of investing in ETF shares may exceed the costs of investing directly in its underlying investments. ETF shares trade on an exchange at a market price which may vary from the ETF’s net asset value. The Fund may purchase ETFs at prices that exceed the net asset value of their underlying investments and may sell ETF investments at prices below such net asset value. Because the market price of ETF shares depends on the demand in the market for them, the market price of an ETF may be more volatile than the underlying portfolio of securities the ETF is designed to track, and the Fund may not be able to liquidate ETF holdings at the time and price desired, which may impact Fund performance. Securities Lending Risk. Securities lending involves possible delay in recovery of the securities or possible loss of rights in the collateral should the borrower fail financially. As a result, the value of Fund shares may fall and there may be a delay in recovering the loaned securities. The value of Fund shares could also fall if a loan is called and the Fund is required to liquidate reinvested collateral at a loss or if the investment adviser is unable to reinvest cash collateral at rates that exceed the costs involved. Rules-Based Management Risks. The sub-adviser uses proprietary investment techniques and analyses in making investment decisions for the Fund, seeking to achieve its investment objective while minimizing exposure to market risk. The strategy seeks to take advantage of certain quantitative and behavioral market characteristics identified by the sub-adviser, utilizing a rules-based investment process and a disciplined rebalancing model. The Fund’s strategy has not been independently tested or validated, and there can be no assurance that it will achieve the desired results. General Fund Investing Risks. The Fund is not a complete investment program and you may lose money by investing in the Fund. All investments carry a certain amount of risk and there is no guarantee that the Fund will be able to achieve its investment objective. Annual Fund Operating Expenses expressed as a percentage of the Fund’s average daily net assets may change as Fund assets increase and decrease, and Annual Fund Operating Expenses may differ in the future. Purchase and redemption activities by Fund shareholders may impact the management of the Fund and its ability to achieve its investment objective. In addition, the redemption by one or more large shareholders or groups of shareholders of their holdings in the Fund could have an adverse impact on the remaining shareholders in the Fund. Investors in the Fund should have a long-term investment perspective and be able to tolerate potentially sharp declines in value. An investment in the Fund is not a deposit in a bank and is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other government agency, entity or person. Mutual funds, investment advisers, other market participants and many securities markets are subject to rules and regulations and the jurisdiction of one or more regulators. Changes to applicable rules and regulations could have an adverse affect on securities markets and market participants, as well as on the Fund’s ability to execute its investment strategy. |
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Performance |
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Performance history will be available for the Fund after the Fund has been in operation for one full calendar year.
Parametric International Equity Fund |
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| Parametric International Equity Fund | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Investment Objective |
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The Fund’s investment objective is to seek long-term capital appreciation. |
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Fees and Expenses of the Fund |
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This table describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy and hold shares of the Fund. |
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Shareholder Fees (fees paid directly from your investment) |
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Annual Fund Operating Expenses (expenses you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment) |
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Example. |
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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 periods. The Example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the operating expenses remain the same. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be: |
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Portfolio Turnover |
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The Fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it 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 costs, which are not reflected in Annual Fund Operating Expenses or in the Example, affect the Fund’s performance. During the most recent fiscal year, the Fund's portfolio turnover rate was 44% of the average value of its portfolio. |
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Principal Investment Strategies |
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Under normal market conditions, the Fund invests at least 80% of its net assets in a diversified portfolio of equity securities (the “80% Policy”). The Fund invests primarily in companies domiciled in developed markets outside of the United States, including securities trading in the form of depositary receipts. The Fund invests primarily in common stocks of companies domiciled in countries represented in the MSCI EAFE Index. The MSCI EAFE Index is an unmanaged index of approximately 1,000 companies located in twenty-two countries. The Fund may invest in securities of smaller, less seasoned companies. The Fund intends to invest in not less than five different countries and more than 25% of the Fund’s total assets may be denominated in any single currency. The Fund may engage in derivative transactions and expects to use derivatives primarily to attempt to mitigate the adverse effects of foreign currency fluctuations during the period between the purchase of a security and its settlement, through the use of forward foreign currency exchange contracts. The Fund may also invest in other pooled investment vehicles and may lend its securities. The Fund seeks to employ a top-down, disciplined and systematic investment process that emphasizes broad exposure and diversification among developed markets outside of the United States, economic sectors and issuers. This rules-based strategy utilizes targeted allocation and systematic rebalancing to take advantage of certain quantitative and behavioral characteristics of developed markets identified by the portfolio managers. The portfolio managers select and allocate across countries based on factors such as market capitalization, volatility, correlation to other markets, liquidity, and perceived risk and potential for growth. The Fund maintains a bias to broad inclusion; that is the Fund intends to allocate its portfolio holdings to more developed markets outside of the United States rather than fewer developed markets. Relative to capitalization-weighted country indexes, individual country allocation targets emphasize the less represented developed markets and attempts to reduce concentration risks relative to a capitalization-weighted index. The Fund’s country allocations are rebalanced periodically to their target weights, which has the effect of reducing exposure to countries with strong relative performance and increasing exposure to countries that have underperformed. The Fund seeks to maintain exposure across key economic sectors, such as technology, telecommunications, utilities, health care, energy, materials, consumer staples, consumer discretionary, industrials and financials. Relative to capitalization-weighted country indexes, the portfolio managers target weights to these sectors to emphasize the less represented sectors. The portfolio managers use an optimization model to select individual securities as representatives of their countries and economic sectors with the objective of minimizing portfolio risk and maintaining broad diversification. |
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Principal Risks |
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Equity Investing Risk. The Fund’s shares are sensitive to stock market volatility and the stocks in which the Fund invests may be more volatile than the stock market as a whole. The prices of stocks may decline in response to conditions affecting the general economy; overall market changes; local, regional or global political, social or economic instability; and currency, interest rate and commodity price fluctuations, as well as issuer or sector specific events. Market conditions may affect certain types of stocks to a greater extent than other types of stocks. If the stock market declines, the value of Fund shares will also likely decline and, although stock values can rebound, there is no assurance that values will return to previous levels. Foreign Investment Risk. Because the Fund invests a significant portion of its assets in foreign instruments, the value of Fund shares can be adversely affected by changes in currency exchange rates and political and economic developments abroad. Foreign markets may be smaller, less liquid and more volatile than the major markets in the United States, and as a result, Fund share values may be more volatile. Trading in foreign markets typically involves higher expense than trading in the United States. The Fund may have difficulties enforcing its legal or contractual rights in a foreign country. Depositary receipts are subject to many of the risks associated with investing directly in foreign securities including political, economic and market risks. Smaller Company Equity Risk. The stocks of smaller, less seasoned companies are generally subject to greater price fluctuations, limited liquidity, higher transaction costs and higher investment risk. Smaller, less seasoned companies may have limited product lines, markets or financial resources, may be dependent on a limited management group, and may lack substantial capital reserves or an established performance record. There may be generally less publicly available information about such companies than for larger, more established companies. Derivatives Risk. The use of derivatives can lead to losses because of adverse movements in the price or value of the asset, index, rate or instrument underlying a derivative, due to failure of a counterparty or due to tax or regulatory constraints. Derivatives may create economic leverage in the Fund, which magnifies the Fund’s exposure to the underlying investment. Derivatives risk may be more significant when derivatives are used to enhance return or as a substitute for a cash investment position, rather than solely to hedge the risk of a position held by the Fund. When derivatives are used to gain or limit exposure to a particular market or market segment, their performance may not correlate as expected to the performance of such market, thereby causing the Fund to fail to achieve its original purpose for using such derivatives. A decision as to whether, when and how to use derivatives involves the exercise of specialized skill and judgment, and a transaction may be unsuccessful in whole or in part because of market behavior or unexpected events. Derivative instruments may be difficult to value, may be illiquid, and may be subject to wide swings in valuation caused by changes in the value of the underlying instrument. If a derivative’s counterparty is unable to honor its commitments, the value of Fund shares may decline and the Fund could experience delays in the return of collateral or other assets held by the counterparty. The loss on derivative transactions may substantially exceed the initial investment. Securities Lending Risk. Securities lending involves possible delay in recovery of the securities or possible loss of rights in the collateral should the borrower fail financially. As a result, the value of Fund shares may fall and there may be a delay in recovering the loaned securities. The value of Fund shares could also fall if a loan is called and the Fund is required to liquidate reinvested collateral at a loss or if the investment adviser is unable to reinvest cash collateral at rates that exceed the costs involved. Rules-Based Management Risks. The sub-adviser uses proprietary investment techniques and analyses in making investment decisions for the Fund, seeking to achieve its investment objective while minimizing exposure to market risk. The strategy seeks to take advantage of certain quantitative and behavioral market characteristics identified by the sub-adviser, utilizing a rules-based country weighting process, a systematic sector allocation methodology and a disciplined rebalancing model. The Fund’s strategy has not been independently tested or validated, and there can be no assurance that it will achieve the desired results. General Fund Investing Risks. The Fund is not a complete investment program and you may lose money by investing in the Fund. All investments carry a certain amount of risk and there is no guarantee that the Fund will be able to achieve its investment objective. Annual Fund Operating Expenses expressed as a percentage of the Fund’s average daily net assets may change as Fund assets increase and decrease, and Annual Fund Operating Expenses may differ in the future. Purchase and redemption activities by Fund shareholders may impact the management of the Fund and its ability to achieve its investment objective. In addition, the redemption by one or more large shareholders or groups of shareholders of their holdings in the Fund could have an adverse impact on the remaining shareholders in the Fund. Investors in the Fund should have a long-term investment perspective and be able to tolerate potentially sharp declines in value. An investment in the Fund is not a deposit in a bank and is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other government agency, entity or person. Mutual funds, investment advisers, other market participants and many securities markets are subject to rules and regulations and the jurisdiction of one or more regulators. Changes to applicable rules and regulations could have an adverse affect on securities markets and market participants, as well as on the Fund’s ability to execute its investment strategy. |
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Performance |
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The following bar chart and table provide some indication of the risks of investing in the Fund by showing changes in the Fund’s performance from year to year and how the Fund’s average annual returns over time compare with those of a broad-based securities market index. The returns in the bar chart are for Investor Class shares. Past performance (both before and after taxes) is no guarantee of future results. The Fund’s performance reflects the effects of expense reductions. Absent these reductions, performance would have been lower. Updated Fund performance information can be obtained by visiting www.eatonvance.com. |
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During the period from December 31, 2010 through December 31, 2012, the highest quarterly total return for Investor Class was 9.65% for the quarter ended March 31, 2012, and the lowest quarterly return was -17.81% for the quarter ended September 30, 2011. The year-to-date return through the end of the most recent calendar quarter (December 31, 2012 to March 31, 2013) was 5.21%. |
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Prior to March 1, 2013, purchases of Investor Class shares were subject to a sales charge. Investor Class and Institutional Class commenced operations on April 1, 2010. Investors cannot invest directly in an Index. (Source for MSCI EAFE Index: MSCI) MSCI data may not be reproduced or used for any other purpose. MSCI provides no warranties, has not prepared or approved this data, and has no liability hereunder. After-tax returns are calculated using the highest historical individual federal income tax rates and do not reflect the impact of state and local taxes. Actual after-tax returns depend on a shareholder’s tax situation and the actual characterization of distributions, and may differ from those shown. After-tax returns are not relevant to shareholders who hold shares in tax-deferred accounts or to shares held by nontaxable entities. After-tax returns for other Classes of shares will vary from the after-tax returns presented for Investor Class shares. Return After Taxes on Distributions for a period may be the same as Return Before Taxes for that period because no taxable distributions were made during that period. Also, Return After Taxes on Distributions and Sale of Fund Shares for a period may be greater than or equal to Return After Taxes on Distributions for the same period because of losses realized on the sale of Fund shares. |
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