Pear Tree Polaris International Opportunities Fund

The PEAR TREE POLARIS INTERNATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES FUND provides investors with the opportunity to participate in the growth potential of companies predominantly located in developed foreign countries.

Investment Process

The Fund will generally own approximately 75 stocks of non-U.S. companies located in Europe, Australia and the Far East. In addition, the Fund may also invest in companies located in emerging markets. The diversification within the Fund, coupled with the fact that the operation of the Fund’s investment model will generally lead the Fund to be invested in 15 or more foreign markets, reduces the likelihood that negative performance of a single country will significantly impact the Fund's return.

Buy and Sell Discipline

The investment process for the Fund combines both quantitative and fundamental techniques. The Fund's approach is primarily “bottom up,” searching for individual stocks with strong, undervalued cash flows, regardless of location or industry. The Fund uses proprietary models to rank countries and industries on the basis of value and to narrow a universe of over 40,000 companies down to 400 to 600 for further consideration. The Fund supplements the screening process by performing in-depth financial and fundamental analysis.

Portfolio Management

The Fund is managed by Polaris Capital Management, LLC, a Boston, Massachusetts money manager that specializes in the management of global, international, and domestic equity portfolios. Polaris brings over 35 years of investment experience to the Fund.

Fund Overview

YTD RETURN*
5.88%

NAV*
$11.34

INCEPTION
January 30, 2019

MINIMUM INVESTMENT
$2,500

CUSIP
70472Q757

BENCHMARK
MSCI ACWI ex US

NET EXPENSE RATIO(1)
1.63%

GROSS EXPENSE RATIO(2)
1.63%

 

*as of 3/28/2023

Investment Professionals

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Sub-Advisor

Polaris Capital Management, LLC

Polaris is a leading global value equity manager, serving the investment needs of institutions and individuals since 1995. At Polaris Capital Management, we have a disciplined approach to investing in undervalued companies around the world, regardless of country, industry or market capitalization.

Portfolio Managers

Bernard R. Horn, Jr.
Sumanta Biswas, CFA
Bin Xiao, CFA
Jason Crawshaw

Performance

YTD
As Of 3/28/2023
Quarterly
As Of 12/31/2022
1 Year
As Of 12/31/2022
3 Years
As Of 12/31/2022
5 Years
As Of 12/31/2022
10 Years
As Of 12/31/2022
Since Inception As Of
12/31/2022
Total Gross Expense Ratio(1) Total Net Expense Ratio(2)
5.88% 16.13% -19.57% 1.00% N/A N/A 5.40% 1.63% 1.63%

Calendar Year

2022 2021 2020 2019 2018 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012
-19.57% 13.11% 13.26% N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A

Portfolio

as of December 31, 2022

Top Ten Holdings

Percentage Of Total Net Assets 18.60%
Collins Foods Limited 2.20%
D'Ieteren S.A. 2.20%
Bravida Holding AB 2.10%
Euronet Worldwide, Inc. 1.90%
Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. 1.80%
OpenText Corporation 1.70%
Midea Group Co., Ltd. 1.70%
Knowit AB 1.70%
Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. 1.70%
Games Workshop Group PLC 1.60%

Sector Weightings

Percentage Of Total Net Assets 100.0%
Consumer Discretionary 25.70%
Financials 17.70%
Information Technology 16.30%
Industrials 14.10%
Materials 6.40%
Consumer Staples 3.00%
Communication Services 2.30%
Utilities 1.40%
Real Estate 0.90%
Cash and Other Assets (Net) 12.20%

Top Ten Country Allocations

Percentage Of Total Net Assets 62.30%
United Kingdom 10.20%
Canada 9.10%
Japan 8.00%
Australia 6.30%
China 6.20%
France 5.40%
Sweden 5.10%
Italy 4.60%
Taiwan 4.50%
Mexico 2.90%

Portfolio Characteristics

Net Assets $25,628,644
Number Of Holdings 72
Percentage in Top 10 Holdings 18.60%
Weighted Average Market Cap (Mil) $19,567.02
Annual Turnover 51.00%

Portfolio Allocation

Percentage of Portfolio 100.0%
Equity Securities 87.80%
Cash and Other Assets (Net) 12.20%

For the Quarter ended December 31, 2022

The Pear Tree Polaris International Opportunities Fund’s Ordinary Shares (the “Fund”) outperformed its benchmark, the MSCI ACWI ex USA Index (the “Index”). The Fund had a return of 16.13% at net asset value compared to 14.37% for the Index.

Market Conditions and Investment Strategies

The Fund had double-digit returns in overweight sectors (Consumer Discretionary, Industrials and Information Technology), as well
as Financials, Materials, Communication Services and Consumer Staples. Defensives including Utilities and Real Estate were in
modest positive territory by comparison. At the country level, Fund holdings in most European countries, including the U.K., Italy,
France and Sweden, were absolute contributors. Germany was a detractor to relative performance.

Most of the top 10 contributors to performance hailed from the Consumer Discretionary sector, led by Games Workshop Group.
The company announced a contract with Amazon to develop TV and film content based on their Warhammer 40k intellectual
property. D’Ieteren Group hired a new CEO for Belron, their global glass repair business. The CEO has a long tenure integrating
M&A activities, which should be a boon for D’Ieteren as it continues its acquisitive growth initiatives. De’Longhi SPA’s revenues
fell modestly amid mounting European headwinds, but its professional coffee machine division showed sustained growth;
the market responded positively to this relatively stable news. U.K. bakery, Greggs, had very resilient performance even in an
inflationary environment; expansion into dinner service may prove an upside opportunity. Investors were quick to snap up shoe
and sportswear retailers on the back of Nike’s upbeat guidance, referencing better inventory controls. Australian retail footwear
company, Accent Group, was one such beneficiary.

Among the handful of detractors was NEXTAGE, the Japanese new/used car dealership, which actually increased its full year
forecast. However, SMBC Nikko Securities, a local sell-side firm, warned that declining used car prices might hurt NEXTAGE’s
future gross margins. Collins Foods reported lower profits because of higher cost headwinds, which are expected to continue in
Australia and Europe in the near term; the company also announced plans to temporarily pause its Taco Bell rollout in Australia.
BizLink Holding, the provider of harnesses, optical fiber and cables to the IT and similar sectors, was in negative territory on
industry-wide IT weakness.

Portfolio Changes

During the quarter, the Fund sold out of Kenyan mobile network operator, Safaricom, as the company faced three distinct
headwinds: geopolitical concerns in neighboring Ethiopia; legal complaints in its M-Pesa system; and increasing competition.
New purchases included two banks, Norway’s Sparebank Nord-Norge and Canada’s Toronto-Dominion Bank; CIE Automotive, the
Spanish auto components manufacturer; and RS Group PLC, a U.K. distributor of industrial and electronic components.

Outlook

For the foreseeable future, we expect central banks worldwide will raise interest rates to temper inflation – albeit at more
metered increments. Regardless of the pace of hikes, the end result is the same: the cost of capital goes higher and liquidity
is drained out of the system. We are starting to see savings dwindle, while companies face higher costs and lower volumes on
slack consumer spending. With demand slowing, market volatility picks up; our research has identified a number of attractively priced companies which may further diversify the Fund portfolio.

Distributions

Dividend Short-Term Capital Gain Long-Term Capital Gain
2022 $0.1509 $0.0000 $0.0000
2021 $0.1554 $1.0176 $0.4147
2020 $0.0000 $0.0913 $0.0000

Performance data quoted represents past performance and is no guarantee of future results. Current performance may be lower or higher than performance data quoted. Investment return and principal value will fluctuate so that an investor's shares, when redeemed, may be worth more or less than original cost.

Before investing, carefully consider the Fund's investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses. For this and other information obtain the Fund's prospectus or, if available, the Fund's summary prospectus by calling (800) 326-2151 or by clicking the Literature and Forms section of this website to view or download a prospectus or, if available, a summary prospectus. Please read the prospectus carefully before you invest or send money.

1, 3, 5, and 10Yr performance numbers quoted are average annual total returns. Performance numbers quoted under one year are cumulative.

Polaris Capital began subadvising the Pear Tree Small Cap Fund on January 1, 2015.

Axiom International Investors began subadvising the Pear Tree Axiom Emerging Markets World Equity Fund December 8, 2018.

The Pear Tree Essex Environment Opportunities Fund (the “Fund”) is the successor to the investment performance of the Essex Environmental Opportunities Fund (“Predecessor Fund”) as a result of the reorganization of the Predecessor Fund into the Environmental Opportunities Fund on September 1, 2021. Performance information shown prior to the close of business on August 31, 2021 is that of the Predecessor Fund’s for the Fund’s Ordinary Shares and Institutional Shares.

Expense Ratios Disclosure

1. Expense Ratio (Gross)
The gross expense ratio is the total operating expense from the class of shares of the fund stated as a percent of the fund's total net assets as disclosed in the fund’s most recent prospectus before waivers or reimbursements.

2. Expense Ratio (Net)
Net Expense Ratio is the total annual operating expense from the class of shares of the funds stated as a percent of the fund's total net assets as disclosed in the fund’s most recent prospectus after any fee waiver and/or expense reimbursements that will reduce any fund operating expenses until July 31, 2023.

Risk Disclosure

Pear Tree Polaris Foreign Value
Pear Tree Polaris Foreign Value Small Cap
Pear Tree Polaris International Opportunities
Pear Tree Polaris Small Cap
Pear Tree Axiom Emerging Markets World Equity
Pear Tree Essex Environmental Opportunities

Foreign and Emerging Market Risk. Foreign markets, particularly emerging markets, can be more volatile than the U.S. market due to increased risks of adverse issuer, political, regulatory, market, or economic developments and can perform differently from the U.S. market. Emerging markets can be subject to greater social, economic, regulatory, and political uncertainties and can be extremely volatile.

Small Cap Investing. The value of securities of smaller, less well-known issuers can perform differently from the market as a whole and other types of stocks and can be more volatile than that of larger issuers.