Fund Evaluator:

Brandes International Small Cap EquityR6 Overview

Brandes International Small Cap EquityR6 (BISRX) is an actively managed International Equity Foreign Small/Mid Value fund. Brandes launched the fund in 2016.

The investment seeks long term capital appreciation. Under normal market conditions, the fund will invest at least 80% of its net assets in equity securities of small capitalization companies. The fund's managers consider a company to be a small capitalization company if it has a market capitalization of $10 billion or less. Equity securities include common and preferred stocks, real estate investment trusts (“REITs”), warrants and rights.

About Brandes International Small Cap EquityR6 (BISRX)

There are 4 members of the management team with an average tenure of 12.25 years: Luiz Sauerbronn (2012), Yingbin Chen (2012), Mark Costa (2012), Bryan Barrett (2021). Management tenure is more important for actively managed funds than passive index funds.

The fund has 2 primary benchmarks: MSCI ACWI Ex USA NR USD index with a weighting of 100% and MSCI ACWI Ex USA Small Value NR USD index with a weighting of 100%. Brandes International Small Cap EquityR6 has 71 securities in its portfolio. The top 10 holdings constitute 27.0% of the fund’s assets. The fund meets the SEC requirement of being classified as a diversified fund. The fund is not considered to have an ESG focus with its investment selection and management.

Brandes International Small Cap EquityR6 is part of the Equity global asset class and is within the International Equity fund group. Brandes International Small Cap EquityR6 has 96.5% of its portfolio invested in foreign issues. The overall assets allocated to domestic stock is 2.5%. There is 96.5% allocated to foreign stock, and 0.0% is allocated to preferred stocks. The bond allocation as a percentage of total assets is 0.0% (0.0% domestic bond, 0.0% foreign bond and 0.0% convertible bond). Brandes International Small Cap EquityR6 has 1.0% of the portfolio in cash.

Assets Under Management

The fund has $9 million in total assets, which is below the $797 million average for the Foreign Small/Mid Value category. Normally, lower assets under management translates to higher average expense ratios, and greater total assets are desired. However, for some investment categories, such as small-cap investing, it may be difficult for the manager to fully employ the desired active strategy if assets grow too large or too quickly.

BISRX Performance and Fees

The expense ratio measures how much of a fund’s assets are used for administrative expenses and operating expenses, including adviser fees and fees for the transfer agent and custodial services. The Brandes International Small Cap EquityR6 expense ratio is high compared to funds in the Foreign Small/Mid Value category. Brandes International Small Cap EquityR6 has an expense ratio of 1.00%, which is 2% higher than its category average, making the fund expense ratio grade a B. While it is difficult to predict returns, it is known that high annual expense ratios reduce your rate of return, and excessive fees are difficult to overcome. Active management normally comes with higher expense ratios than passive index management. Certain investment categories such as small company and foreign also normally have higher expense ratios. It is best to compare fund expense ratios against the category averages for meaningful assessments.

High portfolio turnover can translate to higher expenses and lower aftertax returns. Brandes International Small Cap EquityR6 has a portfolio turnover rate of 38%, indicating that holds its assets around 0.0 years. By way of comparison, the average portfolio turnover is 43% for the Foreign Small/Mid Value category.

Recently, in the month of July 2026, Brandes International Small Cap EquityR6 returned 9.6%, which earned it a grade of A, as the Foreign Small/Mid Value category had an average return of 4.9%. The letter grades of A, B, C, D and F are based upon relative rankings within the investment category. A grade of A, for example, would indicate that the return is in the highest 20% for that time period compared to all funds in that category.

Brandes International Small Cap EquityR6 has a trailing yield of 2.98%, which is above the 2.88% category average. The fund normally distributes its income quarterly and its capital gains annually.

It’s natural to seek the best-performing investments, but you must consider the relationship between risk and return and the impact of costs and taxes on your realized returns.

Brandes International Small Cap EquityR6 Grades

Year to date, the fund has returned 7.2%, 2.9 percentage points worse than the category, which translates into a grade of D. The fund has returned 13.3% over the past year (grade of D), 28.5% over the past three years (grade of A) and 19.2% per year over the past five years (grade of A) and 11.8% per year over the past 10 years (grade of A).

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