Investment Strategies

HighMark provides client-driven investment capabilities across a range of style-specific strategies that harness the expertise of both proprietary and external managers. We apply a disciplined, consistent process to actively managed portfolios spanning equity, fixed income, liquidity management and multi-asset class strategies.

Equity Strategies

Our active equity management process utilizes a bottom-up research methodology within a top-down macroeconomic framework. Quantitative research is used to identify and control a variety of individual security and portfolio risks, as well as to identify compelling investment opportunities. Equity portfolio teams use in-depth fundamental and analytical research to identify companies with desirable business attributes including attractive valuations, marketplace dominance, sustainable competitive advantages and successful management.

Style	Strategy	Fact Sheet	Mutual Fund
Large Growth	Large Cap Growth Equity		HMGRX
Large Core	Fundamental Equity		HMFFX
Large Core	Large Cap Core Equity		HMCFX
Large Value	Large Cap Value Equity	N/A	HMIEX
Large Value	Value Momentum Equity		HMVMX
Large Value	Relative Dividend Yield Equity	N/A	-----
Mid Growth	Geneva Mid Cap Growth Equity	N/A	PNMFX
Small Growth	Geneva Small Cap Growth Equity	N/A	AFSX
Small Core	Small Cap Core Equity		HSAFX
International Large Core	Bailard International Equity		HIOFX

Fixed Income Strategies

HighMark offers a full range of taxable and tax-exempt fixed income expertise. Intensive market and credit research identifies those high-quality issues that appear most attractive. To minimize volatility in client portfolios, we carefully manage interest rate and credit risk. Our fixed income team repositions portfolios as necessary to take advantage of opportunities arising from changes in interest rates, the yield curve and sector spreads and utilizes quantitative tools to analyze securities with embedded options. We strive to avoid securities that are leveraged with respect to interest rate or prepayment risk.

Duration	Strategy	Fact Sheet	Mutual Fund
Intermediate	Core Fixed Income		HMBDX
Intermediate	Intermediate Term Fixed Income	N/A	-----
Intermediate	Investment Grade Corporates Fixed Income	N/A	-----
Short	Short Term Fixed Income		HMSFX
Short	Stable Value Fixed Income		-----
Intermediate	National Intermediate Tax-Free Fixed Income	N/A	HMNTX
Intermediate	California Intermedaite Tax-Free Fixed Income	N/A	HMITX
Intermediate	Wisconsin Tax-Exempt Fixed Income	N/A	WTEFX

Treasury & Money Market Management Strategies

Institutions have long recognized HighMark’s unique expertise in managing cash and excess working capital on behalf of corporations to municipalities. Three principal themes govern our investment process—safety, liquidity and yield. Our treasury management specialists utilize extensive analysis of market sectors and individual issues to enhance diversification and reduce portfolio volatility. We invest in a wide range of investment-grade domestic and foreign dollar-denominated securities according to each client’s specific liquidity needs.

Duration	Strategy	Fact Sheet	Mutual Fund
Ultrashort	Cash Management		-----
Short	Limited Maturity	N/A	-----
Short	Non-U.S. Liquidity Management	N/A	-----
Ultrashort	California Tax-Free Money Market	N/A	HMCXX
Ultrashort	Diversified Money Market	N/A	HMDXX
Ultrashort	Treasury Plus Money Market	N/A	HMFXX
Ultrashort	U.S. Government Money Market	N/A	HMGXX
Ultrashort	100% U.S. Treasury Money Market	N/A	HMTXX

Multi-Asset Class Strategies

Proper diversification in multi-asset portfolios comes from HighMark’s comprehensive process for selecting and monitoring external managers with specialized investment expertise. HighMark has created a proprietary model to provide portfolio optimization that is used both on a strategic and tactical asset allocation basis.