XML 22 R2.htm IDEA: XBRL DOCUMENT v3.20.1
Total
SHELTON TACTICAL CREDIT FUND
SHELTON TACTICAL CREDIT FUND Ticker Symbols: DEBIX and DEBTX
Investment Objective

The Fund's investment objective is to seek current income and capital appreciation.

Fees and Expenses of the Fund

This table describes the fees and expenses that you may pay when you buy and hold shares of the Fund. The table and example do not reflect any transaction fees that may be charged by financial intermediaries or commissions that a shareholder may be required to pay directly to its financial intermediary when buying or selling shares.

Shareholder Fees (fee paid directly from your investment)
Annual Operating Expenses (expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)
Annual Fund Operating Expenses - SHELTON TACTICAL CREDIT FUND
Institutional Class
Investor Class
Management fees 1.17% 1.17%
Distribution (12b-1) fees none 0.25%
Dividend and interest expense on short sales [1] 0.88% 0.88%
All other expenses [2] 0.34% 0.34%
Other Expenses [3] none none
Total annual operating expenses 2.39% 2.64%
Expense Reimbursement [4] (0.12%) (0.12%)
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses After Expense Reimbursement 2.27% 2.52%
[1] Reflect a reduction in shorting interest expense due to a change in investment approach.
[2] Adjusted for Investor Class to match projected expenses.
[3] The expense information in the table has been restated to reflect current fees.
[4] The Fund's Advisor, Shelton Capital Management (the "Advisor"), has contractually agreed to reimburse expenses incurred by the Fund to the extent that total annual fund operating expenses (excluding acquired fund fees and expenses, certain compliance costs, and extraordinary expenses such as litigation or merger and reorganization expenses, for example) exceed 1.39% and 1.64% until June 1, 2021. This agreement may only be terminated with the approval of the Board of Trustees of SCM Trust (the "Board"). Shelton may be reimbursed for any foregone advisory fees or unreimbursed expenses within three fiscal years following a particular reduction or expense, but only to the extent the reimbursement does not cause the Fund to exceed applicable expense limits, and the effect of the reimbursement is measured after all ordinary operating expenses are calculated. Any such reimbursement is subject to the review and approval of the Board.
Example of Expenses

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. This example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Fund's operating expenses remain the same. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:

Expense Example - SHELTON TACTICAL CREDIT FUND - USD ($)
One Year
Three Years
Five Years
Ten Years
Institutional Class 230 734 1,265 2,717
Investor Class 255 809 1,389 2,965
Portfolio Turnover

The Fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or "turns over" its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs and may result in higher taxes when shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in Annual Fund Operating Expenses or in the Example of Expenses, affect the Fund's performance. During the most recent fiscal year of the Accounting Survivor, October 31, 2019, as defined below, the portfolio turnover rate was 116% of the average value of its portfolio. See the section entitled "Bar Chart and Performance Information" for more information about the Accounting Survivor.

Principal Investment Strategies

Under normal circumstances, the Fund invests at least 80% of the value of its net assets, plus the amount of any borrowings for investment purposes, in various credit-related instruments. "Credit-related instruments" are debt securities, instruments and obligations of U.S. and non-U.S. governments, non-governmental and corporate entities and issuers, and include (i) debt issued by or on behalf of states, territories, and possessions of the United States, (ii) U.S. and non-U.S. corporate bonds, notes and other debentures, (iii) securities issued or guaranteed by the U.S. government, its agencies, instrumentalities or sponsored entities, (iv) sovereign debt, including emerging markets debt (v) zero coupon securities, (vi) collateralized debt and loan obligations, (vii) senior secured floating rate and fixed rate loans or debt, (viii) second lien or other subordinated or unsecured floating rate and fixed rate loans or debt, and (ix) derivatives with similar economic characteristics. The Fund may invest up to 100% of its net assets in any one of the categories of instruments included in the preceding sentence. The Fund may invest its total assets, including borrowings for investment purposes and proceeds from short selling, if any, without restriction in debt securities of any maturity and credit quality, including securities that are rated at the time of investment below investment grade (that is, securities rated below the Baa3/BBB- categories by nationally recognized securities rating organizations or, if unrated, determined to be of comparable quality by Shelton Capital Management ("Shelton" or the "Advisor")), commonly referred to as "junk bonds."

 

The Fund is managed as a total return fund, employing a "credit long/short" investment strategy. Shelton makes assessments across the fixed income markets that include analyses of asset classes, economic sectors, individual credits, and security selection in order to identify undervalued securities and overlooked market opportunities, as well as to attempt to take advantage of certain arbitrage opportunities. The Fund's short positions may equal up to 100% of the Fund's net asset value. The Fund may take short positions in U.S. Treasuries, treasury futures, corporate bonds, credit default and/or interest rate swaps, exchange-traded funds ("ETFs"), non-U.S. bonds, equities and equity-related instruments, and options. The Fund's investment strategy involves active and frequent trading.

 

The Fund may also engage in borrowing for cash management purposes or for investment purposes, in order to increase its holdings of portfolio securities and/or to collateralize short sale positions.

 

The Fund may use ETFs and derivatives, such as options, futures contracts, forward currency contracts and swap agreements (including, but not limited to, interest rate swaps, credit default swaps and total return swaps), both for hedging purposes and to seek investment returns consistent with the Fund's investment objective.

Summary of Principal Risks of Investing

Risk is inherent in all investing and you could lose money by investing in the Fund. A summary description of certain principal risks of investing in the Fund is set forth below in alphabetical order. Before you decide whether to invest in the Fund, carefully consider these risk factors associated with investing in the Fund, which may cause investors to lose money. There can be no assurance that the Fund will achieve its investment objective.

 

Market Risk. The market price of a security or instrument may decline, sometimes rapidly or unpredictably, due to general market conditions that are not specifically related to a particular company, such as real or perceived adverse economic or political conditions throughout the world, changes in the general outlook for corporate earnings, changes in interest or currency rates or adverse investor sentiment generally. The market value of a security or instrument also may decline because of factors that affect a particular industry or industries, such as labor shortages or increased production costs and competitive conditions within an industry.

 

Interest Rate Risk. Generally fixed income securities decrease in value if interest rates rise and increase in value if interest rates fall, with longer-term securities being more sensitive than shorter-term securities. For example, the price of a security with a three-year duration would be expected to drop by approximately 3% in response to a 1% increase in interest rates. Generally, the longer the maturity and duration of a bond or fixed rate loan, the more sensitive it is to this risk. Falling interest rates also create the potential for a decline in the Fund's income. Changes in governmental policy, rising inflation rates, and general economic developments, among other factors, could cause interest rates to increase and could have a substantial and immediate effect on the values of the Fund's investments. These risks are greater during periods of rising inflation. In addition, a potential rise in interest rates may result in periods of volatility and increased redemptions that might require the Fund to liquidate portfolio securities at disadvantageous prices and times.

 

Fixed Income Securities Risk. The prices of fixed income securities respond to economic developments, particularly interest rate changes, as well as to changes in an issuer's credit rating or market perceptions about the creditworthiness of an issuer. Generally fixed income securities decrease in value if interest rates rise and increase in value if interest rates fall, and longer-term and lower rated securities are more volatile than shorter-term and higher rated securities.

 

Derivatives Risk. Derivatives include instruments and contracts that are based on and valued in relation to one or more underlying securities, financial benchmarks, indices, or other reference obligations or measures of value. Major types of derivatives include futures, options, swaps and forward contracts. Using derivatives can have a leveraging effect and increase fund volatility. Derivatives transactions can be highly illiquid and difficult to unwind or value, and changes in the value of a derivative held by the Fund may not correlate with the value of the underlying instrument or the Fund's other investments. Many of the risks applicable to trading the instruments underlying derivatives are also applicable to derivatives trading. However, additional risks are associated with derivatives trading that are possibly greater than the risks associated with investing directly in the underlying instruments. These additional risks include, but are not limited to, illiquidity risk, and counterparty credit risk. For derivatives that are required to be cleared by a regulated clearinghouse, other risks may arise from the Fund's relationship with a brokerage firm through which it submits derivatives trades for clearing, including in some cases from other clearing customers of the brokerage firm.

 

Municipal Bond Risk. Interest rates on tax-exempt municipal bonds are generally lower than taxable bonds, and the return on investment in the Fund may be lower than an investment in another fund that does not invest in tax-exempt municipal obligations. The Funds generally will not be eligible to pass-through to their shareholders the tax-exempt character of municipal bond interest. Changes or proposed changes in federal tax laws could impact the value of the debt securities of municipal issuers that the Fund may purchase. Also, the failure or possible failure of such debt issuances to qualify for tax-exempt treatment may cause the prices of such municipal securities to decline, possibly adversely affecting the value of the Fund's portfolio, and such a failure could also result in additional taxable income to the Fund and its shareholders. The value of municipal securities can also be adversely affected by changes in the financial condition of one or more individual municipal issuers or credit enhancement providers for municipal issuers, regulatory and political developments, legislative actions, and by uncertainties and public perceptions concerning these and other factors. Financial difficulties impacting certain municipal issuers could result in an increasing number of defaults on obligations by municipal issuers.

 

Credit Risk. If an issuer or guarantor of a debt security held by the Fund or a counterparty to a financial contract with the Fund defaults or is downgraded or is perceived to be less creditworthy, or if the value of the assets underlying a security declines, the value of the Fund's portfolio will typically decline. Subordinated securities are more likely to suffer a credit loss than non-subordinated securities of the same issuer and will be disproportionately affected by a default, downgrade or perceived decline in creditworthiness.

 

Management and Strategy Risk. The value of your investment depends on the judgment of the Fund's Advisor about the quality, relative yield, value or market trends affecting a particular security, industry, sector or region, which may prove to be incorrect.

 

Prepayment or Call Risk. Many issuers have a right to prepay their securities. If interest rates fall, an issuer may exercise this right. If this happens, the Fund will be forced to reinvest prepayment proceeds at a time when yields on securities available in the market are lower than the yield on the prepaid security. The Fund may also lose any premium it paid on the security.

 

High Yield ("Junk") Bond Risk. High yield bonds are debt securities rated below investment grade (often called "junk bonds"). Junk bonds are speculative, involve greater risks of default, downgrade, or price declines and are more volatile and tend to be less liquid than investment-grade securities. Companies issuing high yield bonds are less financially strong, are more likely to encounter financial difficulties, and are more vulnerable to adverse market events and negative sentiments than companies with higher credit ratings.

 

Asset Segregation Risk. As a series of an investment company registered with the SEC, the Fund must segregate liquid assets, or engage in other measures to "cover" open positions with respect to certain kinds of derivatives and short sales. The Fund may incur losses on derivatives and other leveraged investments (including the entire amount of the Fund's investment in such investments) even if they are covered.

 

Borrowing Risk. Borrowing may exaggerate changes in the net asset value of Fund shares and in the return on the Fund's portfolio. Borrowing will cost the Fund interest expense and other fees. The costs of borrowing may reduce the Fund's return. Borrowing may cause the Fund to liquidate positions when it may not be advantageous to do so to satisfy its obligations.

Collateralized Debt Obligations Risk. Collateralized debt obligations are subject to credit, interest rate, valuation, prepayment and extension risks. These securities also are subject to risk of default on the underlying asset, particularly during periods of economic downturn.

 

Currency Risk. The values of investments in securities denominated in foreign currencies increase or decrease as the rates of exchange between those currencies and the U.S. Dollar change. Currency conversion costs and currency fluctuations could erase investment gains or add to investment losses. Currency exchange rates can be volatile and are affected by factors such as general economic conditions, the actions of the U.S. and foreign governments or central banks, the imposition of currency controls, and speculation.

 

Extension Risk. If interest rates rise, repayments of fixed income securities may occur more slowly than anticipated by the market. This may drive the prices of these securities down because their interest rates are lower than the current interest rate and they remain outstanding longer.

 

Foreign Investment Risk. The prices of foreign securities may be more volatile than the prices of securities of U.S. issuers because of economic and social conditions abroad, political developments, and changes in the regulatory environments of foreign countries. In addition, changes in exchange rates and interest rates may adversely affect the values of the Fund's foreign investments. Foreign companies are generally subject to different legal and accounting standards than U.S. companies, and foreign financial intermediaries may be subject to less supervision and regulation than U.S. financial firms. Foreign securities include American Depository Receipts ("ADRs") and Global Depository Receipts ("GDRs"). Unsponsored ADRs and GDRs are organized independently and without the cooperation of the foreign issuer of the underlying securities, and involve additional risks because U.S. reporting requirements do not apply. In addition, the issuing bank may deduct shareholder distribution, custody, foreign currency exchange, and other fees from the payment of dividends.

 

Foreign Sovereign Risk. Foreign governments rely on taxes and other revenue sources to pay interest and principal on their debt obligations. The payment of principal and interest on these obligations may be adversely affected by a variety of factors, including economic results within the foreign country, changes in interest and exchange rates, changes in debt ratings, changing political sentiments, legislation, policy changes, a limited tax base or limited revenue sources, natural disasters, or other economic or credit problems.

 

Leveraging Risk. Certain Fund transactions, including entering into futures contracts and taking short positions in financial instruments, may give rise to a form of leverage. Leverage can magnify the effects of changes in the value of the Fund's investments and make the Fund more volatile. Leverage creates a risk of loss of value on a larger pool of assets than the Fund would otherwise have had, potentially resulting in the loss of all assets. The Fund may also have to sell assets at inopportune times to satisfy its obligations in connection with such transactions.

 

Liquidity Risk. The Fund may not be able to sell some or all of the investments that it holds due to a lack of demand in the marketplace or other factors such as market turmoil, or if the Fund is forced to sell an illiquid asset to meet redemption requests or other cash needs it may only be able to sell those investments at a loss. In addition, the reduction in dealer market-making capacity in the fixed income markets that has occurred in recent years has the potential to decrease the liquidity of the Fund's investments. Illiquid assets may also be difficult to value.

 

Puerto Rico Debt Risk. As a result of the Fund's investment in Puerto Rico municipal securities, the Fund will be exposed to political, economic and statutory developments affecting the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. Events, including economic and political policy changes, tax base erosion, territory constitutional limits on tax increases, budget deficits and other financial difficulties and changes in the credit ratings assigned to Puerto Rico's municipal issuers, are likely to affect the value of such investments. Puerto Rico's operating budget has been structurally unbalanced for the past decades and the government has relied on deficit financing for annual operations. Certain issuers of Puerto Rico municipal securities have failed to make payments on obligations that have come due, and additional missed payments and defaults may occur in the future. As a result of the defaults and challenging economic environment, credit rating firms have downgraded certain securities issued by Puerto Rico and its agencies to below investment grade. In May 2017, Puerto Rico filed for Title III (bankruptcy) under the Puerto Rico Oversight, Management, and Economic Stability Act, which provides Puerto Rico with a path for restructuring its debt following a process based on the U.S. Bankruptcy Code. The outcome of this debt restructuring and any potential future restructuring is uncertain. Puerto Rico's continued financial difficulties, which were compounded by the damage caused by Hurricane Maria in September 2017, could reduce its ability to access financial markets, potentially increasing the likelihood of further restructuring or additional defaults for Puerto Rico municipal securities, which that may affect the Fund's investments and its performance.

 

Short Sales Risk. In connection with a short sale of a security or other instrument, the Fund is subject to the risk that instead of declining, the price of the security or other instrument sold short will rise. If the price of the security or other instrument sold short increases between the date of the short sale and the date on which the Fund replaces the security or other instrument borrowed to make the short sale, the Fund will experience a loss, which is theoretically unlimited since there is a theoretically unlimited potential for the market price of a security or other instrument sold short to increase. Shorting options or futures may have an imperfect correlation to the assets held by the Fund and may not adequately protect against losses in or may result in greater losses for the Fund's portfolio.

 

Sector Concentration Risk. The Fund may concentrate its investments in companies that are in a single sector or related sector. Concentrating investments in a single sector may make the Fund more susceptible to adverse economic, business, regulatory or other developments affecting that sector. If an economic downturn occurs in a sector in which the Fund's investments are concentrated, the Fund may perform poorly during that period.

 

Cybersecurity Risk. Cybersecurity incidents may allow an unauthorized party to gain access to Fund assets, customer data (including private shareholder information), or proprietary information, or cause the Fund, the Advisor, and/or other service providers (including custodians, sub-custodians, transfer agents and financial intermediaries) to suffer data breaches, data corruption or loss of operational functionality. In an extreme case, a shareholder's ability to exchange or redeem Fund shares may be affected.

 

ETF Risk. Investing in an ETF will provide the Fund with exposure to the securities comprising the index on which the ETF is based and will expose the Fund to risks similar to those of investing directly in those securities. Shares of ETFs typically trade on securities exchanges and may at times trade at a premium or discount to their net asset values. In addition, an ETF may not replicate exactly the performance of the benchmark index it seeks to track for a number of reasons, including transaction costs incurred by the ETF, the temporary unavailability of certain index securities in the secondary market or discrepancies between the ETF and the index with respect to the weighting of securities or the number of securities held. Investing in ETFs, which are investment companies, involves duplication of advisory fees and certain other expenses. The Fund will pay brokerage commissions in connection with the purchase and sale of shares of ETFs.

 

Manager Risk. Shelton Capital Management'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. Shelton Capital Management may not make timely purchases or sales of securities for the Fund.

Bar Chart and Performance Table

The following bar chart and table are intended to help you understand the risks of investing in the Fund. The bar chart shows calendar year returns and the average annual total return table indicates risk by illustrating how much returns can differ from one year to the next and how fund performance compares with that of a comparable market index. These figures assume that all distributions are reinvested. The Fund's performance will fluctuate, and past performance (before and after taxes) is no guarantee of future results. Updated performance information may be obtained on our website www.sheltoncap.com or by calling (800) 955-9988.

 

The information shown below reflects the historical performance of the Cedar Ridge Unconstrained Credit Fund, a series of IMST II (the "Accounting Survivor"), and is based on the NAV per share of the Accounting Survivor prior to the reorganization of the Accounting Survivor into the Fund on June 21, 2019 (the "Reorganization"). Upon completion of the Reorganization, Investor Class and Institutional Class of the Fund assumed the performance, financial and other historical information of the Accounting Survivor.

 

The annual returns in the bar chart are for the Accounting Survivor's shares. Such shares were exchanged for Institutional Class shares of the Fund in the Reorganization.

Bar Chart

Best Quarter: 7.89% (Q1, 2014)

Worst Quarter: -4.01% (Q4, 2018)

Year to date performance as of 12/31/19: 3.80%

Date of inception: 12/12/2013

 

After-tax returns are calculated using the historical highest individual federal marginal income tax rates and do not reflect the impact of state and local taxes. Actual after-tax returns depend on the investor's tax situation and may differ from those shown, and the after-tax returns shown are not relevant to investors who hold their Fund shares through tax-advantaged arrangements such as 401(k) plans or individual retirement accounts.

Average Annual Return (for the period ended 12/31/19)
Average Annual Total Returns - SHELTON TACTICAL CREDIT FUND
1 Year
3 Years
5 Years
Since Inception
[1]
Institutional Class 3.80% 3.21% 2.57% 3.93%
Institutional Class | After Taxes on Distributions 1.91% 1.62% 0.97% 2.46%
Institutional Class | After Taxes on Distributions and Sales 1.70% 1.65% 1.10% 2.30%
Barclays Capital U.S. Aggregate Bond Index 7.57% 4.07% 2.66% 3.47%
[1] Inception date: 12/12/2013

It is not possible for individuals to invest directly in an index. Performance figures for an index do not reflect deductions for sales charges, commissions, expenses or taxes.