Summary Prospectus January 1, 2024 |  | ||||||||||
Avantis® International Small Cap Value Fund | |||||||||||
Institutional Class: AVDVX | G Class: AVANX | ||||||||||
Before you invest, you may want to review the fund’s prospectus, which contains more information about the fund and its risks. You can find the fund’s prospectus, reports to shareholders, and other information about the fund online at avantisinvestors.com/docs. You can also get this information at no cost by calling 833-9AVANTIS or sending an email request to prospectus@avantisinvestors.com. The fund’s prospectus and other information are also available from financial intermediaries through which shares of the fund may be purchased or sold. | |||||||||||
This summary prospectus incorporates by reference the fund’s prospectus and statement of additional information (SAI) each dated January 1, 2024 (as supplemented at the time you receive this summary prospectus), as well as the Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm and the financial statements included in the fund’s annual report to shareholders, dated August 31, 2023. The fund’s SAI and annual report may be obtained, free of charge, in the same manner as the prospectus. | |||||||||||
Investment Objective
The fund seeks long-term capital appreciation.
Fees and Expenses
The following table describes the fees and expenses 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.
Annual Fund Operating Expenses (expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment) | Institutional Class | G Class | ||||||
| Management Fee | 0.36% | 0.36% | ||||||
| Other Expenses | 0.00% | 0.00% | ||||||
| Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses | 0.36% | 0.36% | ||||||
| Fee Waiver | None | 0.36%¹ | ||||||
| Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses After Waiver | 0.36% | 0.00% | ||||||
1 The advisor has agreed to waive the G Class’s management fee in its entirety. The advisor expects this waiver to remain in effect permanently and cannot terminate it without the approval of the Board of Trustees.
Example
The example below is intended to help you compare the costs of investing in the fund with the costs 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, that you earn a 5% return each year, and that the fund’s operating expenses remain the same, except that it reflects the rate and duration of any fee waivers noted in the table above. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:
| 1 year | 3 years | 5 years | 10 years | |||||||||||
| Institutional Class | $37 | $116 | $202 | $456 | ||||||||||
| G Class | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | ||||||||||
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 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 29% of the average value of its portfolio.
Principal Investment Strategies
The fund invests primarily in a diverse group of non-U.S. small cap value companies across market sectors, industry groups, and countries.
The fund seeks to achieve higher expected returns by selecting securities of companies with higher profitability and value characteristics, as well as smaller market capitalizations relative to others within the fund's small cap investment universe. To identify the desired market capitalization companies with higher profitability and value characteristics, the portfolio managers use reported and/or estimated company financials and market data including, but not limited to, shares outstanding, book value and its components, cash flows from operations, and accruals. The portfolio managers define “value characteristics” mainly as adjusted book/price ratio (though other price to fundamental ratios may be considered). The portfolio managers define “profitability” mainly as adjusted cash from operations to book value ratio (though other ratios may be considered). The portfolio managers may also consider other factors when selecting a security, including industry classification, the past performance of the security relative to other securities, its liquidity, its float, and tax, governance or cost considerations, among others. When portfolio managers identify securities with the desired capitalization, profitability, value, and past performance characteristics, they seek to include these securities in the broadly diversified portfolio. To determine the weight of a security within the portfolio, the portfolio managers use the market capitalization of the security relative to that of other eligible securities as a baseline, then overweight or underweight the security based on the characteristics described above. The portfolio managers may dispose of a security if it no longer has the desired market capitalization, profitability, or value characteristics. When determining whether to dispose of a security, the portfolio managers will also consider, among other things, relative past performance, costs, and taxes. The portfolio managers review the criteria for inclusion in the portfolio on a regular basis to maintain a focus on the desired broad set of non-U.S. companies.
When selecting investments for the fund, the portfolio managers consider the distribution of market capitalization of all companies in each country in which the fund invests, meaning that a company of a given size may be considered small in one country, but not in another. Under normal market conditions, the fund will invest at least 80% of its assets in securities of small capitalization companies. For purposes of the fund’s 80% test, small cap companies include companies with market capitalizations not greater than that of the largest company on the MSCI World ex USA Small Cap Index at the time of investment. Though capitalizations will change from time to time, as of September 30, 2023, the total market capitalization of the largest company in the index was $8.36 billion.
The fund may invest in securities that are denominated in foreign currencies and may also invest in foreign securities that are represented in the U.S. and other securities markets by American Depositary Receipts (ADRs), Global Depositary Receipts (GDRs), and other similar depositary arrangements.
The fund also may invest in derivative instruments such as futures contracts, currency forwards, and swap agreements. For example, the fund may use futures on securities and U.S. indices to gain exposure to equities to manage cash flows. The fund may also engage in securities lending and invest its collateral in eligible securities.
The portfolio managers continually analyze market and financial data to make buy, sell, and hold decisions. When buying or selling a security, the portfolio managers may consider the trade-off between expected returns of the security and implementation or tax costs of the trade in an attempt to gain trading efficiencies, avoid unnecessary risk, and enhance fund performance.
Principal Risks
•Equity Securities Risk — The value of equity securities, may fluctuate due to changes in investor perception of a specific issuer, changes in the general condition of the stock market, or occurrences of political or economic events that affect equity issuers and the market. Common stock prices may be particularly sensitive to rising interest rates, as the cost of capital rises and borrowing costs increase.
•Small-Cap Stock Risk — Smaller companies may have limited financial resources, product lines, markets and have less publicly available information. These securities may trade less frequently and in more limited volumes than larger companies’ securities, leading to higher transaction costs. Smaller companies also may be more sensitive to changing economic conditions.
•Foreign Risk — Foreign securities are generally riskier than U.S. securities. Political events (such as civil unrest, national elections and imposition of exchange controls), social and economic events (such as labor strikes and rising inflation), natural disasters and public health emergencies occurring in a country where the fund invests could cause the fund’s investments in that country to experience gains or losses. Securities of foreign issuers may be less liquid, more volatile and harder to value than U.S. securities.
•Depositary Receipts Risk — Investment in depositary receipts does not eliminate all the risks inherent in investing in securities of non-U.S. issuers. The market value of depositary receipts is dependent upon the market value of the underlying securities and fluctuations in the relative value of the currencies in which the depositary receipts and the underlying securities are quoted.
•Investment Process Risk — Stocks selected by the portfolio managers may perform differently than expected due to the portfolio managers’ judgments regarding the factors used, the weight placed on each factor, changes from the factors’ historical trends, and technical issues with the construction and implementation of the investment process (including, for example, data problems and/or software or other implementation issues). There is no guarantee that the investment process will result in effective investment decisions for the fund.
•Style Risk — If at any time the market is not favoring the fund’s investment style, the fund’s gains may not be as big as, or its losses may be bigger than, those of other equity funds using different investment styles.
•Market Risk — The value of the fund’s shares will go up and down based on the performance of the companies whose securities it owns and other factors generally affecting the securities market. Market risks, including political, regulatory, economic and social developments, can affect the value of the fund’s investments. Natural disasters, public health emergencies, war, terrorism and other unforeseeable events may lead to increased market volatility and may have adverse long-term effects on world economies and markets generally.
•Derivatives Risk — The use of derivative instruments involves risks different from, or possibly greater than, the risks associated with investing directly in securities and other traditional instruments. Derivatives are subject to a number of risks, including liquidity, interest rate, market, credit, and correlation risk. Derivatives used for hedging or risk management may not operate as intended, may expose the fund to other risks, and may be insufficient to protect the fund from the risks they were intended to hedge. Derivative transactions may expose the fund to the effects of leverage, which could increase the fund’s exposure to the market and magnify potential losses, particularly when derivatives are used to enhance return rather than offset risk. Derivatives can also 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.
•Securities Lending Risk — Securities lending involves the risk of loss of rights in, or delay in recovery of, the loaned securities if the borrower fails to return the security loaned or becomes insolvent.
•Price Volatility Risk — The value of the fund’s shares may fluctuate significantly in the short term.
•Redemption Risk — The fund may need to sell securities at times it would not otherwise do so to meet shareholder redemption requests. Selling securities to meet such redemptions may cause the fund to experience a loss, increase the fund’s transaction costs or have tax consequences. To the extent that a large shareholder (including a fund of funds or 529 college savings plan) invests in the fund, the fund may experience relatively large redemptions as such shareholder reallocates its assets.
•Principal Loss Risk — At any given time your shares may be worth less than the price you paid for them. In other words, it is possible to lose money by investing in the fund.
An investment in the fund is not a bank deposit, and it is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) or any other government agency.
Fund Performance
The following bar chart and table provide some indication of the risks of investing in the fund. The bar chart shows changes in the fund’s performance from year to year for Institutional Class shares. The table shows how the fund’s average annual returns for the periods shown compared with those of a broad measure of market performance. The fund’s past performance (before and after taxes) is not necessarily an indication of how the fund will perform in the future. For current performance information, please visit avantisinvestors.com.
Sales charges and account fees, if applicable, are not reflected in the bar chart. If those charges were included, returns would be less than those shown.
Calendar Year Total Returns
Highest Performance Quarter (4Q 2020): 21.74% Lowest Performance Quarter (1Q 2020): -33.75%
As of September 30, 2023, the most recent calendar quarter end, the fund’s year-to-date return was 6.60%.
Average Annual Total Returns For the calendar year ended December 31, 2022 | 1 year | Since Inception | Inception Date | ||||||||
Institutional Class Return Before Taxes | -10.88% | 4.56% | 12/04/2019 | ||||||||
| Return After Taxes on Distributions | -11.53% | 3.70% | 12/04/2019 | ||||||||
| Return After Taxes on Distributions and Sale of Fund Shares | -5.92% | 3.41% | 12/04/2019 | ||||||||
G Class Return Before Taxes | -10.56% | 0.16% | 01/20/2021 | ||||||||
MSCI World ex-U.S. Small Cap Index (reflects no deduction for fees, expenses or taxes) | -20.58% | 1.24% | — | ||||||||
The after-tax returns are shown only for Institutional Class shares. After-tax returns for other share classes will vary. 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 an investor’s tax situation and may differ from those shown. After-tax returns are not relevant to investors who hold their fund shares through tax-deferred arrangements, such as 401(k) plans or IRAs.
Portfolio Management
Investment Advisor
American Century Investment Management, Inc.
Portfolio Managers
Eduardo Repetto, Chief Investment Officer of Avantis Investors, has been a member of the team that manages the fund since 2019.
Mitchell Firestein, Senior Portfolio Manager, has been a member of the team that manages the fund since 2019.
Daniel Ong, Senior Portfolio Manager, has been a member of the team that manages the fund since 2019.
Ted Randall, Senior Portfolio Manager, has been a member of the team that manages the fund since 2019.
Matthew Dubin, Portfolio Manager, has been a member of the team that manages the fund since 2024.
Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares
You may purchase or redeem shares of the fund on any business day through a financial intermediary. Shares may be purchased and redemption proceeds received by electronic bank transfer, by check or by wire.
The minimum initial investment amount for the Institutional Class is generally $5 million ($3 million for endowments and foundations), but the minimum may be waived if you have an aggregate investment in the American Century family of funds of $10 million or more ($5 million for endowments and foundations). This includes accounts held directly with American Century and those held through a financial intermediary.
Generally, there is no minimum initial investment amount for certain employer-sponsored retirement plans, however, financial intermediaries or plan recordkeepers may require plans to meet different minimums. For purposes of fund minimums, employer-sponsored retirement plans do not include SEP IRAs, SIMPLE IRAs or SARSEPs.
G Class shares are available for purchase by other funds offered by American Century Investments for which it charges a management fee. In its sole discretion, American Century Investments may also make G Class shares available for purchase by other institutional
clients for which American Century Investments provides investment management services for a fee pursuant to an investment advisory agreement. Currently, eligible clients are limited to commingled investment trusts or other pooled investment vehicles that utilize a target date or other asset allocation investment strategy for which American Century Investments provides asset allocation or glide path investment management services for a fee. G Class shares do not have a minimum purchase amount.
Tax Information
Fund distributions are generally taxable as ordinary income or capital gains, unless you are investing through a tax-deferred account such as a 401(k) or individual retirement account (in which case you may be taxed upon withdrawal of your investment from such account).
Payments to Broker-Dealers and Other Financial Intermediaries
If you purchase the fund through a broker-dealer or other financial intermediary (such as a bank, insurance company, plan sponsor or financial professional), the fund and its related companies may pay the intermediary for the sale of fund shares and related services in the Institutional Class. These payments may create a conflict of interest by influencing the broker-dealer or other intermediary and your salesperson to recommend the fund over another investment. Ask your salesperson or visit your financial intermediary’s website for more information.
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