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Core Plus Income Fund (WCPBX)


Fund Facts

  • Ticker
    WCPBX
  • CUSIP
    94904P831
  • Fund
    Inception
    07/31/2014
  • Class
    Inception
    07/31/2014
  • Fund
    Assets
    $1,702 Million
    as of 03/31/2024
  • Dividend
    Frequency
    Declared Daily/ Paid Monthly
  • Portfolio
    Manager(s)
      Tom Carney, CFA®
    Nolan Anderson

Investment Approach

The primary investment objectives of the Core Plus Income Fund are current income and capital preservation. A secondary investment objective is long-term capital appreciation.

Strategy and Process

Flexible, high-conviction portfolio

Fixed Income markets are inefficient and, at times, illiquid.

We build a flexible, concentrated, multi-sector portfolio that is conscious of asset capacity.

Bottom-up driven, top-down aware

Human behavior and market sentiment are more volatile than the intrinsic value of a business.

With consideration to economic and fixed income market drivers, we build the portfolio using a bottom-up, research-driven approach.

Emphasis on downside risk management

Credit investing is asymmetric in nature, and attempting to forecast interest rates is speculative.

The credit quality allocation of the fund may vary over time, but our core philosophy remains focused on managing downside risks.

We seek to avoid investments that rely solely on making a correct interest rate forecast.

Performance

Data quoted is past performance and current performance may be lower or higher. Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Investment return and principal value of an investment will fluctuate, and shares, when redeemed, may be worth more or less than their
original cost.

Returns
as of 03/31/2024

Cumulative Returns

Average Annual Total Returns
YTD 1 MO 1 YR 3 YR 5 YR7 YR Since Fund
Inception
7/31/2014
Core Plus Income Fund 0.30% 0.97% 3.97% -0.28% 2.60% 2.77% 3.01%
Bloomberg U.S. Agg Bond Index -0.78% 0.92% 1.70% -2.45% 0.36% 1.06% 1.41%

Growth of a $10,000 Investment Since Inception
as of 03/31/2024

Calendar Year Returns
as of 03/31/2024

Year Core Plus Income Fund Bloomberg U.S. Agg Bond Index Relative Results
2023 7.05% 5.53% 1.52%
2022 -9.84% -13.01% 3.17%
2021 1.68% -1.54% 3.22%
2020 10.32% 7.51% 2.81%
2019 7.58% 8.72% -1.14%
2018 1.68% 0.01% 1.67%
2017 3.03% 3.54% -0.51%
2016 7.32% 2.65% 4.67%
2015 0.21% 0.55% -0.34%
2014 (07/31/2014) 1.17% 2.22% -1.05%
Swipe/scroll vertically for full history

Since Inception Returns
as of 03/31/2024

Since Fund Inception (7/31/2014) Core Plus Income Fund Bloomberg U.S. Agg Bond IndexRelative Results
Cumulative Return 33.15% 14.52% 18.63%
Average Annual Return 3.01% 1.41% 1.60%

Yields
as of 03/31/2024

Distribution Yield 5.22%
30-Day SEC Yield (Subsidized) 5.33%
30-Day SEC Yield (Unubsidized) 5.11%

Morningstar Ratings™
as of 3/31/2024

Rating / Number of funds in the category
Category: Intermediate Core-Plus Bond
3 YR 5 YR Overall Rating

out of 557
out of 527
out of 557
Morningstar Ratings are based on risk–adjusted returns.

Morningstar Rankings™
as of 3/31/2024

Ranking / Number of funds in the category / Percentile Ranking
Category: Intermediate Core-Plus Bond
1 YR 3 YR 5 YR
101 / 624
19		 12 / 557
4		 5 / 527
2
Morningstar Rankings are based on total returns.

Fees & Expenses
as of most recent prospectus dated 07/31/2023

Gross Expense Ratio 0.59%
Net Expense Ratio 0.45%
Contractual Expiration Date 7/31/2024
Distribution and/or service fee (12b-1) Fees None
Sales Charge None
Redemption Fee None

Volatility Measures
as of 03/31/2024

Versus Bloomberg U.S. Agg Bond Index 5 Year
R-Squared 72.69
Beta 0.82
Alpha 2.31
Upside Capture Ratio 104.35
Downside Capture Ratio 75.95
Standard Deviation 5.93
Sharpe Ratio 0.11

Portfolio

Asset Allocation
% of Net Assets as of 03/31/2024

FIXED INCOME BREAKDOWN
% of Net Assets as of 03/31/2024

Fund Bloomberg U.S. Agg Bond Index
U.S. Treasury / Government /Government Related 31.2 46.1
Mortgage-Backed Securities 26.5 26.0
Asset-Backed Securities 23.1 0.5
Corporate Bonds 12.2 25.1
Commercial Mortgage-Backed Securities 5.0 1.6
Corporate Convertible Bonds 0.1 0.0
Municipal Bonds 0.0 0.8

Credit Quality
% of Portfolio as of 03/31/2024

Fund Bloomberg U.S. Agg Bond Index
U.S. Treasury 31.6 42.0
U.S. Government Agency MBS 23.0 24.8
AAA 7.9 3.4
AA 7.3 3.4
A 11.6 11.9
BBB 15.0 11.9
BB 1.7 0.6
B 0.9 0.0
CCC 0.1 0.0
Not Rated 0.1 2.0
Cash Equivalents 0.9 0.0

Characteristics
as of 03/31/2024

Fund Bloomberg U.S. Agg Bond Index
Avg. Effective Maturity (yrs) 9.4 8.4
Avg. Effective Duration (yrs) 5.5 6.1
Yield to Maturity (%) 5.8 4.8
Yield to Worst (%) 5.8 4.8
Average Coupon (%) 5.2 3.2
No. of Fixed Income Issuers 221 13,530
Annual Turnover (%) 12 —

Maturity Distribution
% of Portfolio as of 03/31/2024

Cash Equivalents 0.9
Less than 1 Year 6.6
1 - 3 Years 7.9
3 - 5 Years 14.5
5 - 7 Years 17.5
7 - 10 Years 19.8
10 Years or more 32.8

Duration Distribution
% of Portfolio as of 03/31/2024

0 - 1 Years 20.8
1 - 3 Years 14.8
3 - 5 Years 29.6
5 - 7 Years 7.9
7 - 10 Years 3.0
10 Years or more 23.7

Five Largest Corporate Bond Issuers
% of Net Assets as of 03/31/2024

Owl Rock Core Income Corp. 0.7
STORE Capital Corp. 0.6
Essential Properties LP 0.5
EPR Properties 0.5
Concentrix Corp. 0.5
Download Portfolio Holdings as of 03/31/2024 (CSV)

Distributions

RECORD DATE EX & PAY DATE Income Capital Gain Short-Term Capital Gain Long-Term Total Distribution Reinvestment NAV
03/28/24 04/01/24 0.0440 n/a n/a 0.0440 9.63
02/29/24 03/01/24 0.0415 n/a n/a 0.0415 9.58
01/31/24 02/01/24 0.0418 n/a n/a 0.0418 9.71
12/29/23 01/02/24 0.0455 n/a n/a 0.0455 9.73
11/30/23 12/01/23 0.0427 n/a n/a 0.0427 9.46
10/31/23 11/01/23 0.0413 n/a n/a 0.0413 9.14
09/29/23 10/02/23 0.0419 n/a n/a 0.0419 9.32
08/31/23 09/01/23 0.0420 n/a n/a 0.0420 9.56
07/31/23 08/01/23 0.0390 n/a n/a 0.0390 9.63
06/30/23 07/03/23 0.0428 n/a n/a 0.0428 9.67
05/31/23 06/01/23 0.0413 n/a n/a 0.0413 9.69
04/28/23 05/01/23 0.0366 n/a n/a 0.0366 9.80
03/31/23 04/03/23 0.0428 n/a n/a 0.0428 9.76
02/28/23 03/01/23 0.0352 n/a n/a 0.0352 9.63
01/31/23 02/01/23 0.0357 n/a n/a 0.0357 9.81
12/13/22 12/14/22 0.1074 n/a 0.0109 0.1183 9.74
09/13/22 09/14/22 0.0791 n/a n/a 0.0791 9.77
06/14/22 06/15/22 0.0606 n/a n/a 0.0606 9.83
03/15/22 03/16/22 0.0421 n/a n/a 0.0421 10.49
12/14/21 12/15/21 0.0603 0.0164 0.0147 0.0915 10.93
09/14/21 09/15/21 0.0533 n/a n/a 0.0533 11.11
06/15/21 06/16/21 0.0598 n/a n/a 0.0598 10.99
03/15/21 03/16/21 0.0790 n/a n/a 0.0790 10.87
12/15/20 12/16/20 0.1050 0.0470 0.0050 0.1570 10.99
09/15/20 09/16/20 0.0980 n/a n/a 0.0980 10.94
06/16/20 06/17/20 0.1000 0.0584 0.0841 0.2425 10.77
03/17/20 03/18/20 0.0740 n/a n/a 0.0740 10.00
12/16/19 12/17/19 0.0760 0.0108 0.0128 0.0996 10.54
09/16/19 09/17/19 0.0840 n/a n/a 0.0840 10.57
06/17/19 06/18/19 0.0780 n/a n/a 0.0780 10.45
03/18/19 03/19/19 0.0680 n/a n/a 0.0680 10.21
12/26/18 12/27/18 0.0730 n/a n/a 0.0730 10.07
09/25/18 09/26/18 0.0670 n/a n/a 0.0670 10.02
06/26/18 06/27/18 0.0750 n/a n/a 0.0750 10.08
03/27/18 03/28/18 0.0630 n/a n/a 0.0630 10.08
12/26/17 12/27/17 0.0680 0.0023 0.0016 0.0719 10.22
09/26/17 09/27/17 0.0600 n/a n/a 0.0600 10.28
06/27/17 06/28/17 0.0520 0.0027 0.0242 0.0789 10.29
03/28/17 03/29/17 0.0560 n/a n/a 0.0560 10.23
12/27/16 12/28/16 0.0590 0.1001 0.0321 0.1912 10.15
09/27/16 09/28/16 0.0690 0.000000 0.000000 0.0690 10.52
06/27/16 06/28/16 0.0690 n/a n/a 0.0690 10.46
03/28/16 03/29/16 0.0700 n/a n/a 0.0700 10.12
12/28/15 12/29/15 0.0680 0.0106 0.0027 0.0813 9.86
09/25/15 09/28/15 0.0560 n/a n/a 0.0560 10.09
06/25/15 06/26/15 0.0440 0.0036 n/a 0.0476 10.09
03/26/15 03/27/15 0.0280 n/a n/a 0.0280 10.19
12/26/14 12/29/14 0.0670 n/a n/a 0.0670 10.04

Literature

Fact Sheet
(3/24) 		Commentary
(12/23) 		Summary Prospectus
(07/23)
Prospectus
(07/23) 		SAI
(07/23) 		Annual Report*
(03/23) 		Portfolio Holdings
(06/23) 		Semi-Annual Report*
(09/23) 		Portfolio Holdings
(12/23)

Risks

An investment in the Fund involves certain risks, including, among others, the following:

Market Risk
As with any mutual fund, investment return and principal value will fluctuate, depending on general market conditions and other factors.  Market risk includes political, regulatory, economic, social and health risks (including the risks presented by the spread of infectious diseases such as the COVID-19 pandemic) which can lead to increased market volatility and negative impacts on local and global financial markets, and the duration and severity of the impact of these risks on markets cannot be reasonably estimated.  

Non-U.S. Securities Risk
The Fund may invest in securities issued by non-U.S. issuers, which securities may be denominated in U.S. dollars or foreign currencies. Investments in non-U.S. securities may involve additional risks including exchange rate fluctuation, political or economic instability, the imposition of exchange controls, expropriation, limited disclosure and illiquid markets.

Interest Rate Risk
Debt securities are subject to interest rate risk because the prices of debt securities tend to move in the opposite direction of interest rates.  When interest rates rise, debt security prices fall.  When interest rates fall, debt security prices rise.  Changing interest rates may have sudden and unpredictable effects in the markets and on the Fund›s investments.  In general, debt securities with longer maturities are more sensitive to changes in interest rates.

Credit Risk
The risk that the issuer of a debt security will fail to pay interest or principal in a timely manner or that negative perceptions of the issuer's ability to make such payments will cause the price of that security to fall. 

Non-Investment Grade Debt Securities Risk
Non-investment grade debt securities (commonly referred to as "high yield" or "junk" bonds) are speculative and involve a greater risk of default and price change than investment grade debt securities due to the issuer’s creditworthiness. The market prices of these securities may fluctuate more than the market prices of investment grade debt securities and may decline significantly in response to adverse economic changes or issuer developments.

Call Risk
Certain debt securities may be called (redeemed) at the option of the issuer at a specified price before reaching their stated maturity date. Call risk is the risk, especially during periods of falling interest rates, that an issuer will call or repay a higher-yielding bond debt security before its maturity date, forcing the Fund to reinvest in bonds with lower interest rates than the original obligations.

Liquidity Risk
Securities purchased by the Fund that are liquid at the time of purchase may subsequently become illiquid due to, among other things, events relating to the issuer of the securities (e.g., changes to the market's perception of the credit quality of the issuer), market events, economic conditions, investor perceptions or lack of market participants. The Fund may be unable to sell illiquid securities on short notice or only at a price below current value.

Mortgage-Backed (and Other Asset-Backed) Securities Risk
Mortgage-backed securities (and other asset-backed securities) are generally structured for the securities holders to receive periodic payments as the securities issuer receives payments on the mortgages (or loans) in an underlying asset pool. Sometimes these securities are issued in separate tranches, which can mean the securities holders of one tranche receive payment in full before the securities holders of another tranche receive payments. Also sometimes credit support is provided for these securities, which can mean the securities issuer, an affiliated party or a third party provides additional assets, or makes additional promises, with respect to payment to the securities holders. Risks to the securities holders can include (i) the underlying asset pool may not pay as expected (which could mean sooner or later than expected), (ii) the securities issuer may have insufficient cash to make payment on the securities generally, or on certain tranches of the securities and (iii) the credit support may be insufficient to make payment on the securities.

Government-Sponsored Enterprises Risk
Obligations of U.S. Government agencies and authorities (such as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac) are supported by varying degrees of credit but generally are not backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. Government. No assurance can be given that the U.S. Government will provide financial support to its agencies and authorities if it is not obligated by law to do so. In addition, the value of U.S. Government securities may be affected by changes in the credit rating of the U.S. Government.

Derivatives Risk
Derivatives are instruments, such as futures and forward contracts, whose value is derived from that of other assets, rates or indices. The use of derivatives may carry more risk than other types of investments. Derivatives are subject to a number of risks including counterparty, liquidity, interest rate, market, credit and management risks, and the risk of improper valuation. Changes in the value of a derivative may not correlate perfectly with the underlying asset, rate or index, and in some cases the Fund could lose more than the principal amount invested.  The use of some derivatives requires the Fund to segregate liquid assets to cover the Fund›s obligations under the derivative agreements or as required by regulations.  

Failure to Meet Investment Objective
There can be no assurance that the Fund will meet its investment objective.

An investment in the Fund is not a bank deposit and is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other government agency.

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