Fund Evaluator:

Empiric Class C Overview

Empiric Class C (EMCCX) is an actively managed U.S. Equity Small Growth fund. Empiric Funds launched the fund in 2005.

The investment seeks capital appreciation. The fund seeks to achieve its objective by primarily investing in the equity securities of domestic growth companies. It seeks capital appreciation by investing in companies that the Advisor believes are undervalued and that have characteristics the Advisor deems will likely cause those stocks to appreciate in the near future.

About Empiric Class C (EMCCX)

There are 2 members of the management team with an average tenure of 15.63 years: Gabriel Rodriguez (2026), Mark Coffelt (1995). Management tenure is more important for actively managed funds than passive index funds.

The fund has 2 primary benchmarks: S&P 500 (TR) (1970) index with a weighting of 100% and MSCI USA Small Cap NR USD index with a weighting of 100%. Empiric Class C has 38 securities in its portfolio. The top 10 holdings constitute 52.2% 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.

Empiric Class C is part of the Equity global asset class and is within the U.S. Equity fund group. Empiric Class C has 1.2% of its portfolio invested in foreign issues. The overall assets allocated to domestic stock is 93.5%. There is 1.2% 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). Empiric Class C has 5.4% of the portfolio in cash.

Assets Under Management

The fund has $1 million in total assets, which is below the $431 million average for the Small Growth 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.

EMCCX 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 Empiric Class C expense ratio is high compared to funds in the Small Growth category. Empiric Class C has an expense ratio of 2.99%, which is 154% higher than its category average, making the fund expense ratio grade a F. 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. Empiric Class C has a portfolio turnover rate of 10%, indicating that holds its assets around 0.1 years. By way of comparison, the average portfolio turnover is 78% for the Small Growth category.

Recently, in the month of July 2026, Empiric Class C returned -1.5%, which earned it a grade of A, as the Small Growth category had an average return of -6.7%. 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.

Empiric Class C has a trailing yield of 0.00%, which is below the 0.06% category average. The fund normally distributes its income annually 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.

Empiric Class C Grades

Year to date, the fund has returned 14.2%, 0.6 percentage points better than the category, which translates into a grade of C. The fund has returned 16.3% over the past year (grade of D), 10.9% over the past three years (grade of D) and 3.6% per year over the past five years (grade of C) and 9.9% per year over the past 10 years (grade of D).

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