Pax US Sustainable Economy Fund Commentary Q3 2021

Performance and Portfolio Update

• In the third quarter, the Pax US Sustainable Economy Fund outperformed the Russell 1000 Index.
• Investment strategy: The strategy integrates the Impax Sustainability Lens, a proprietary tool that helps the adviser systematically overweight the portfolio toward sub-industries we identify as high opportunity in the context of the transition to a more sustainable economy, while removing exposure to sub-industries classified as low opportunity and high risk. The Fund is also constructed to provide higher exposure to companies with favorable environmental, social and governance (ESG) ratings relative to their sector and industry peers, as determined by the Impax Systematic ESG Rating. Lastly, the strategy is fossil fuel free, utilizing SmartCarbon^TM, a proprietary tool that replaces energy sector holdings with energy efficiency stocks. The Fund’s optimization process applies appropriate constraints to create a diversified portfolio of approximately 200 stocks.
• Asset class conditions: US Large Cap equity markets, as measured by the Russell 1000 Index, gained 0.21% during the third quarter. Equity markets moved negative during September, erasing most of the gains earlier in the quarter. The Fund’s higher quality and lower volatility profile was generally positive, however the beginning of September saw a rotation away from quality and growth stocks.
• Impax Sustainability Lens attribution: The Fund benefited throughout the quarter from its exposure to high opportunity and low risk sub-industries, like Life Sciences Tools and Services, Data Processing, Application Software, and Insurance. The companies in these sub-industries are exposed to many areas of the market where we see future growth and innovation, for example, environmental analysis tools, digital infrastructure, as well as access to finance.
• The Fund experienced a slight headwind from not owning some companies the Lens considers low opportunity and high risk, such as Automobile Manufacturers, Hotels, Resorts and Casinos, Oil & Gas Exploration, and Restaurants. However, the focus on high opportunity names within the high-risk category helped identify strong contributors like Water Utilities (American Water Works) and Environmental & Facilities Services (Waste Management).
• Impax Systematic ESG Rating attribution: Allocation to companies with high ESG scores as determined by the Impax Systematic ESG Rating, positively contributed to the Fund’s relative performance for the third quarter. Security selection within the top quartile of ESG ratings detracted slightly from relative performance, with Ilumina and Lam Research the most significant detractors within this category. However, most of the fund’s top performing companies, like CBRE and West Pharmaceuticals were highly rated Impax ESG names. In addition, the Impax Systematic ESG Rating was particularly additive in selecting the best stocks within some of the higher risk sub-industries.
• SmartCarbon^TM attribution: During the quarter, the Fund’s SmartCarbon approach detracted from performance as energy efficient companies, like Applied Materials and Universal Display Corp underperformed. This, however, was partially offset by the Fund’s avoidance of traditional energy securities.

Performance data quoted represent past performance, which does not guarantee future results. Investment return and principal value of an investment will fluctuate so that an investor’s shares, when redeemed, may be worth more or less than their original cost. Current performance may be lower or higher than the performance data quoted. To obtain performance for the most recent month-end, call 800.767.1729 or visit impaxam.com

Figures include reinvested dividends, capital gains distributions and changes in principal value.

As of 5/1/2021 prospectus, total annual Pax US Sustainable Economy Fund operating expenses, gross of any fee waivers or reimbursements (excluding Acquired Fund fees and expenses), for Institutional Class, Investor Class and Class A shares are 0.65%, 0.90% and 0.90%, respectively.ˆ

¹The inception date for the Pax US Sustainable Economy Fund Institutional Class is April 2, 2007, the Investor Class inception date is June 11, 1997, and the Class A shares inception date is May 1, 2013.

The performance information shown for Institutional Class shares represents the performance of the Investor Class shares for the period prior to Institutional Class inception (April 2, 2007). Expenses have not been adjusted to reflect the expenses allocable to Institutional Class shares. If such expenses were reflected, the returns would be higher than those shown. Institutional Class shares average annual return since April 2, 2007, is 9.65% (annualized).

The performance information shown for Class A represents the performance of the Investor Class shares for the period prior to Class A inception. Expenses have not been adjusted to reflect the expenses allocable to Class A shares. Class A inception date return since May 1, 2013, is 13.43% (annualized). A 1.00% CDSC (contingent deferred sales charge) may be charged on any shares sold within 18 months of purchase over $1 million. POP (public offering price) reflects the maximum sales load for the Fund’s Class A Shares of 5.50%.

Top 10 Holdings

(as of 9/30/21)
Apple, Inc. 5.5%, Microsoft Corp. 5.0%, Alphabet, Inc., Class A 3.4%, NVIDIA Corp. 2.7%, Thermo Fisher Scientific, Inc. 2.1%, Johnson & Johnson 2.0%, Verizon Communications, Inc. 1.8%, Home Depot, Inc., The 1.7% Zoetis, Inc. 1.7% and Kansas City Southern 1.6%. Holdings are subject to change.

Disclosures

^ƒWeighted Average is an average in which each quantity to be averaged is assigned a weight. These weightings determine the relative importance of each quantity on the average.
^∼Forward Price-Earnings Ratio or P/E FY1 ratio is a ratio for valuing a company that measures its current share price relative to its per-share earnings over the next 12 months.
^∘Return on Equity: The amount of net income returned as a percentage of shareholders equity. Return on equity measures a corporation’s profitability by revealing how much profit a company generates with the money shareholders have invested.
^∞A historical Beta is used for Funds with greater than 3 years of performance history under the same mandate. Three-year Beta is used. Beta reflects the sensitivity of a Fund’s return to fluctuations in its benchmark; a beta for a benchmark is 1.00; a beta greater than 1.00 indicates above-average volatility and risk.

IMPX0767 (1/22)