Fund Evaluator:

Embark Small Cap Equity Retirement Overview

Embark Small Cap Equity Retirement (ESCQX) is an actively managed U.S. Equity Small Blend fund. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc launched the fund in 2024.

The investment seeks long-term growth of capital. Under normal circumstances, the fund invests at least 80% of its net assets, plus borrowings for investment purposes, in equity securities of small cap companies. “Equity securities” for this purpose include all types of equity securities, whether issued by U.S. or non-U.S. issuers, although the fund invests primarily in common stocks of U.S. issuers.

About Embark Small Cap Equity Retirement (ESCQX)

There are 2 members of the management team with an average tenure of 2.50 years: Spenser Lerner (2024), Justin Menne (2024). 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 Russell 2000 TR USD index with a weighting of 100%. Embark Small Cap Equity Retirement has 313 securities in its portfolio. The top 10 holdings constitute 11.7% 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.

Embark Small Cap Equity Retirement is part of the Equity global asset class and is within the U.S. Equity fund group. Embark Small Cap Equity Retirement has 6.2% of its portfolio invested in foreign issues. The overall assets allocated to domestic stock is 93.2%. There is 6.2% 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). Embark Small Cap Equity Retirement has 0.6% of the portfolio in cash.

Assets Under Management

The fund has $26 million in total assets, which is below the $685 million average for the Small Blend 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.

ESCQX 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 Embark Small Cap Equity Retirement expense ratio is above average compared to funds in the Small Blend category. Embark Small Cap Equity Retirement has an expense ratio of 0.61%, which is 42% lower than its category average, making the fund expense ratio grade a A. 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. Embark Small Cap Equity Retirement has a portfolio turnover rate of 83%, indicating that holds its assets around 0.0 years. By way of comparison, the average portfolio turnover is 66% for the Small Blend category.

Recently, in the month of July 2026, Embark Small Cap Equity Retirement returned -0.7%, which earned it a grade of A, as the Small Blend category had an average return of -2.8%. 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.

Embark Small Cap Equity Retirement has a trailing yield of 0.73%, which is above the 0.42% 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.

Embark Small Cap Equity Retirement Grades

Year to date, the fund has returned 22.6%, 4.4 percentage points better than the category, which translates into a grade of A. The fund has returned 29.0% over the past year (grade of C).

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