Voya Corporate Leaders® 100 Fund Quarterly Commentary - 3Q25
A rules-based strategy designed to exploit market inefficiencies in a disciplined systematic manner.
Portfolio review
U.S. equities posted significant gains for the quarter. The S&P 500 increased by 8.12%, while the Nasdaq Composite rose by 11.24%. Strong performance in technology and artificial intelligence-related stocks, along with a shift toward easing monetary policy drove the market higher. The technology and communication services sectors outperformed while consumer staples sector lagged. Small cap stocks beat large cap stocks, and growth outperformed value stocks.
In the bond market, Treasury prices rose and the yield curve flattened. The 10-year U.S. Treasury yield declined by 8 basis points to finish at 4.16%, while the Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate Bond Index returned 2.03% for the quarter. Expectations of U.S. Federal Reserve rate cuts throughout the period led to a decrease in short-term yields.
Over the reporting period, stock selection in communication services and information technology sectors detracted from performance. An underweight allocation to the information technology sector and an overweight to the consumer staples sector also detracted. Among the largest individual detractors for the period were the underweight positions Apple Inc., NVIDIA Corp., and combined shares of Alphabet Inc.
By contrast, stock selection in financials and health care contributed to performance. On an individual stock level an overweight to Intel Corp., as well as underweight positions in Amazon.com, Inc., and Microsoft Corp. contributed to performance.
As of the end of the reporting period, the Fund’s largest sector overweight was to the health care sector, while the largest sector underweight was information technology. Sector exposures are purely a function of the strategy’s rules-based investment discipline and are not actively managed.
Current strategy and outlook
The U.S. economy navigates a complex landscape of interest rate changes, inflation concerns, and labor market dynamics. Due to the emerging signs of labor market softness, the Fed is expected to cut rates further. Solid economic data, strong corporate earnings, and easing monetary policy are boosting the attractiveness of U.S. assets, despite existing concerns.
Holdings detail
Companies mentioned in this report—percentage of Fund investments, as of 09/30/25: Apple Inc. 1.20%, NVIDIA Corp. 1.12%, Alphabet Inc. 1.30%, Intel Corp. 0.94%, Amazon.com, Inc. 0.93%, and Microsoft Corp. 0.99%; 0% indicates that the security is no longer in the Fund. Portfolio holdings are subject to daily change.
*If a security is underperforming the S&P 500® Index and the S&P 500® Index is positive on an intra-quarter basis, the security will typically be sold when it declines by 30% or more, irrespective of the percentage difference versus the S&P 500® Index. If a security is underperforming the S&P 500® Index and the S&P 500® Index is negative on an intra-quarter basis, the security will typically be sold when it underperforms the S&P 500® Index by 30 percentage points or more. This change went into effect on 5/18/20.
Key Takeaways
For the quarter ended September 30, 2025, the Voya Corporate Leaders 100 Fund underperformed its benchmark on a net asset value (NAV) basis, the S&P 500 Index (the Index).
During the quarter, the Fund continued to follow its strict rules-based investment approach.
At the beginning of the quarter, the Fund held equal-weighted positions in the stocks of the S&P 100 Index (implying that each holding represented about 1% of the portfolio).
Over the course of the quarter, if the value of a security increased by more than 50%,* the position size was reduced to 1%, and if the value of a security decreased by more than 30%,* the position was eliminated.