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Guardian Canadian Focused Equity Fund

Different by Design

#1 Fund *

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*See below for full details.

The Canadian equity market has long been a poster child of high concentration, and investors are faced with difficulty when it comes to finding a truly differentiated and diversified Canadian portfolio within which to invest.

As an example, the S&P/TSX Composite Index tends to hold between 20-25% exposure to Canadian banks1.

Guardian Canadian Focused Equity Fund aims to invest differently in Canadian equities

Deliberate Diversification

Guardian Canadian Focused Equity Fund is a high-conviction portfolio of the 15-20 “best ideas” of our Canadian Equity team, diversified by sector but without the traditional concentration in banks. In fact, since inception, this Fund has only ever held one bank and the maximum weighting never rose above 8%.

Our approach to “deliberate diversification” means that our high-conviction portfolio aims to provide greater diversification than the S&P/TSX Composite Index by selecting securities across industries and market cap sizes that we believe have differentiated drivers of returns or different catalysts for value realization.

How do we look at investing in Canada differently?

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Low correlation to cyclical sectors such as Materials, Energy and Financials

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Returns driven by earnings growth, not macro-economic factors

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Greater diversification within the Canadian equity space

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Our awareness of — and diversification across — cyclical market drivers allows us to tactically play offence or defence depending on what we see on the horizon, aiming to help position our investors to participate in wealth creation irrespective of the economic backdrop.”

SAM BALDWIN
Senior Portfolio Manager

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SAM BALDWIN
Senior Portfolio Manager

Portrait of Sam Baldwin

Disciplined Investment Process

The Canadian equity universe is full of great companies that are generally underrepresented in the S&P/TSX Composite Index, which tends to be heavily skewed to the Financials and Energy sectors. We prefer to look for gems that have yet to get their shine with our high conviction process based in uncovering high-quality companies that we believe have the most attractive growth opportunities.

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Our Canadian Equity team will constantly assess the portfolio across three main buckets:

Defensive Growth

These investments provide a balance of stability and growth potential, offering the potential for downside protection during market turbulence while still allowing for capital appreciation.

Quality Growth

These investments are core portfolio holdings, striving to deliver consistent performance and resilience across various market conditions, while maintaining growth prospects.

Cyclical Growth

These investments are considered allocations that offer potential opportunities for higher returns during economic expansions but requiring careful management due to their relative volatility and sensitivity to economic cycles.

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The investment philosophy of our Canadian Equity team favours quality, however, the defensive and cyclical drivers of growth can provide meaningful diversification if their expected long-term growth exceeds their respective hurdle rates.

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Example for Illustrative Purposes Only.

Our Canadian Equity team aims to prevent the portfolio from getting too expensive through its stock price discipline. Holdings that have met their realized valuation targets get trimmed in favour of more compelling undervalued companies that we believe are poised to exceed their expected future growth under the right environment.

Key Reasons to Invest

1

DIFFERENCIATED, BENCHMARK-AGNOSTIC EXPOSURE

Deliberately diversified across sectors without the typical domestic concentration in big banks.

2

HIGH QUALITY GROWTH

We believe a portfolio of high-quality companies with attractive valuations can outperform the market with below-market risk.

3

HIGH-CONVICTION PORTFOLIO

Typically invests in a concentrated 15-20 "best ideas" of our Canadian Equity team with uncorrelated fundamental drivers.

Purchase options

FUND SERIES MANAGEMENT FEE TICKER/FUND CODE
ETF SERIES 0.50% GCFE View fund performance
SERIES F 0.50% GCG 692 View fund performance
SERIES A 1.50% GCG 592 View fund performance

The Management Fee is the total fee paid to the Fund’s Manager for managing the investment portfolio and for the day-to-day operations of the Fund . This is not the same as the Management Expense Ratio (“MER”), which will be higher as it includes the cost of running the Fund, inclusive of applicable taxes including HST, GST and QST (excluding certain portfolio transaction costs). The MER is reported in the Fund’s most recent Management Report of Fund Performance (“MRFP”), as updated semi-annually, and which can be found on our website.

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Guardian Canadian Focused Equity Fund

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1Source: Morningstar, over the period from December 2015 (Fund inception) to September 2024, CIFSC Canadian Equity category.

* Source: Morningstar® Direct™ as at December 31, 2024. Guardian Canadian Focused Equity Fund was the best performing Fund (all series*) in the Canadian Equity category versus all Mutual Funds and ETFs over the 1, 2 and 3 year periods-ended Dec 31, 2024, on an annualized basis. *The ETF series is new, and only has 1 year of performance. See below for full performance information.

Morningstar Rating, commonly referred to as the “Star Rating”, relates how a fund has performed on a risk-adjusted basis against its Morningstar category peers and is a purely quantitative, backward-looking measure of a fund’s past performance, designated from one to five stars, which is subject to change monthly. The Star Rating is based on the calculated Morningstar Risk Adjusted Return (MRAR) of a fund compared to its peers within the same CIFSC category for the same period. Morningstar calculates the MRAR for categories with at least 5 funds, and for funds with at least 3 years of performance history. To determine a fund’s Star Rating, the fund and its peer are ranked by their MRARs. If a fund scores in the top 10% of its category, it receives five stars (High); if it falls in the next 22.5%, it receives four stars (Above Average); the next 35% earns a fund three stars (Neutral or Average); those in the next 22.5% received two stars (Below Average); and the lowest 10% received one star (Low). The overall rating is a weighted combination of the 3, 5 and 10 year ratings. Overall ratings are adjusted where a fund has less than 5 or 10 years of history. Please refer to www.morningstar.ca for greater detail on the calculation of the Star Ratings, which are objective and based entirely on a mathematical evaluation of past performance and is not to be construed as an endorsement of any fund. They’re a useful tool for identifying funds worthy of further research, but shouldn’t be considered buy or sell recommendations.

© 2025 Morningstar Research Inc. All Rights Reserved. The information contained herein: (1) is proprietary to Morningstar and/or its content providers; (2) may not be copied or distributed; and (3) is not warranted to be accurate, complete or timely. Neither Morningstar nor its content providers are responsible for any damages or losses arising from any use of this information. Past performance is not a guarantee of future results.

Morningstar Star Ratings for the Guardian Canadian Focused Equity Fund in the Canadian Equity category as at December 31, 2024:

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