Principal Investment
Strategies
Under normal circumstances, the Fund invests at least 80% of its net
assets in equity securities issued by small-cap companies. For these purposes, small-cap companies are companies whose capitalizations are within the range of the market
capitalizations of companies included in the Russell 2000® Index during the most recent 11-month period (based on month-end data) plus the most recent data during the current month.
The Fund employs a “growth” style of investing. In other words, the Fund seeks companies whose earnings are expected to grow consistently faster than those of other
companies. It may invest in any economic sector and, at times, emphasize one or more particular industries or sectors.
In selecting investments for the Fund, the Fund’s subadviser looks for securities of companies that it believes to have high growth potential, using a “bottom-up” stock selection process. The “bottom-up” approach focuses on fundamental analysis of individual issuers before considering the impact of overall economic, market or industry trends. This approach includes analysis of a
company’s financial statements and management structure and consideration of the company’s operations, product development, and its industry position. The subadviser currently focuses on what it believes to be high growth companies that
are characterized by industry leadership, market share growth, high caliber management teams, sustainable competitive advantages and strong growth themes or new innovative products or services. The Fund generally considers selling a security
when it fails to perform as expected or when other opportunities appear more attractive. The Fund invests in U.S. companies but may also purchase securities of issuers in any country, including developed countries and emerging market countries. The Fund
has no limits on the amount of assets that can be invested in foreign securities.
The Fund cannot guarantee that it will achieve its investment objective.
As with any fund, the value of the Fund’s investments—and therefore, the value of Fund shares—may fluctuate. These changes may occur because of:
Equity securities risk – stock markets are volatile. The price of an equity
security fluctuates based on changes in a company’s financial condition and overall market and economic conditions.
Market risk – the risk that one or more markets in which the Fund invests will go down in value, including the possibility that the
markets will go down sharply and unpredictably. This occurs due to numerous factors, including interest rates, the outlook for corporate profits, the health of the national and world economies, and the fluctuation of other securities markets around the
world. These risks may be magnified if certain social, political, economic and other conditions and events (such as natural disasters, epidemics and pandemics, terrorism, conflicts, trade disputes and social unrest or rapid technological developments
such as artificial intelligence) adversely interrupt the global economy.
Selection risk – the risk that the securities
selected by the Fund’s subadviser will underperform the markets, the relevant indexes or the securities selected by other funds with similar investment objectives and
investment strategies.
Smaller company
risk – smaller companies are usually less stable in price and less liquid than larger, more established companies. Smaller companies are more vulnerable than larger companies to adverse business and economic developments and may have more
limited resources. Therefore, they generally involve greater risk.
Investing in unseasoned companies – in addition to the other risks of smaller companies, these securities may have a very limited trading market,
making it harder for the Fund to sell them at an acceptable price. The price of these securities may be very volatile, especially in the near term.
Growth style risk – growth stocks are generally more sensitive to market movements than other types of stocks primarily because their
stock prices are based heavily on future expectations. If the subadviser’s assessment of the prospects for a company’s growth is wrong, or if the subadviser’s
judgment of how other investors will value the company’s growth is wrong, then the Fund will suffer a loss as the price of the company’s stock may fall or not approach
the value that the subadviser has placed on it. In addition, growth stocks as a group sometimes are out of favor and underperform the overall equity market for long periods while the market concentrates on other types of stocks, such as “value” stocks.
Sector risk – investments in particular industries or sectors may be more volatile than the overall stock market. Therefore, if the
Fund emphasizes one or more industries or economic sectors, it will be more susceptible to financial, market or economic events affecting the particular issuers and industries participating in such sectors than funds that do not emphasize particular industries or sectors.