Buy and hold is a long term investment strategy, based on the concept that in the long run equity markets give a good rate of return despite periods of volatility or decline. A convertible is a hybrid security where the conversion feature allows the convertible to participate in the appreciation of the underlying stock. A properly selected convertible securities portfolio combines the appreciation potential of stocks with the higher yield and stability of bonds. We believe consistently excellent performance can only be achieved through superior knowledge of companies and their securities, not through attempts at predicting what is in store for the economy, interest rates or the securities markets. Our investment strategy is a bottoms-up approach based upon company specific research within the appropriate macroeconomic and technical context. We use overall portfolio structuring as a defensive tool to help us avoid dangerous concentration, rather than as an aggressive weapon expected to enable us to hold more securities that we like. To further minimize risk, we emphasize convertible securities with loss-preventive features such as short maturities or the right to "put" a security back to the issuer within a few years. Therefore, we continuously try to find under and overpriced convertible securities through diligent analysis, and believe that DCM’s set of rules, behaviors and procedures is designed to guide us to take the long view, striving for consistency to achieve less volatile returns then our benchmarks.