that may apply for the periods indicated above
under “Fees and Expenses.” Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:
The Fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or
“turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs. These costs, which are not reflected in Annual Fund Operating
Expenses or in the Example, affect the Fund’s performance. During the most recent fiscal year, the Fund’s portfolio turnover rate was 164.67% of the average value of its
portfolio.
Principal Investment Strategies
The Fund invests primarily in U.S. dollar-denominated high-yield bonds (commonly known as “junk bonds”) of U.S. and foreign issuers, including those in emerging market countries. Securities selected for the Fund normally are lower-rated or are below
investment grade, with no minimum acceptable rating. These bonds primarily include corporate debt securities, such as notes, bonds, debentures and commercial paper, but may include convertible securities and corporate loans. Some of the securities in
which the Fund invests may be zero-coupon bonds.
The subadviser performs its own credit analysis to determine the creditworthiness and yield
potential of a security, and seeks a thorough understanding of industry and company dynamics as well as individual security characteristics such as issuer debt and debt maturity schedules, earnings prospects, responsiveness to changes in interest rates, experience and perceived strength of
management, borrowing requirements and liquidation value, market price in relation to cash flow, interest and dividends. In selecting high-yield bonds, the Fund’s subadviser utilizes its internal research team that covers a broad universe of industries, companies and markets. The subadviser employs a selection strategy that focuses on a value-driven, bottom-up approach to
identify securities that provide an opportunity for high current income as well as capital appreciation. The subadviser analyzes an individual company’s potential for positive financial news to determine if it has growth potential. The subadviser emphasizes in-depth credit analysis, appreciation potential and diversification in its bond selection. Each bond is evaluated to assess the ability of its issuer to pay interest and, ultimately, principal (which helps the Fund generate an ongoing flow of income). The subadviser also assesses a bond’s relation to market conditions within its industry and favors bonds whose prices may benefit from positive business developments. In order to manage issuer risk, the subadviser seeks to diversify the Fund’s holdings.
Under normal circumstances, the Fund invests at least 80% of its accounts market value in high-yield bonds. For these purposes, high-yield bonds are debt securities that are rated below investment grade by nationally recognized statistical rating
organizations, such as Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s, or unrated securities that the Fund’s subadviser believes to be of comparable quality. In deciding which securities to buy and sell, the subadviser considers, among other things, the financial
strength of the issuer, current interest rates, current valuations, the subadviser’s expectations regarding future changes in interest rates and comparisons of the level of risk associated with particular investments with the subadviser’s expectations concerning the potential return of those investments.
In order to provide the potential for additional income and to manage market volatility, the
subadviser separately manages a diversified portion of the Fund (targeting approximately 20% of the Fund’s accounts market value at the time of purchase) invested in securitized assets, such as mortgage-backed and asset-backed securities. For this portion of the Fund, the subadviser purchases many securities that are rated investment grade, although it also may purchase securities that are rated below
investment grade. In managing this portion, the subadviser uses a bottom-up, fundamental research process to select individual securities for the Fund. The decision to buy or sell a particular security is driven largely by the subadviser’s view of the fundamentals of the issue compared to the prevailing market valuation, which may be higher (suggesting a potential sell
decision) or lower (suggesting a potential buy decision).
In managing the Fund’s overall portfolio, the subadviser typically maintains an average portfolio duration that is up to one year greater than or less than the average portfolio duration of the ICE BofA 1-3 Year BB-B US Cash Pay High Yield Index (the
“Index”). As of December 31, 2025, the average portfolio duration of the Index was 1.01 years. The subadviser may buy or sell derivatives, such as futures, forwards or credit default swaps, in order to hedge against investment risks or to expose the Fund’s cash holdings to the investment characteristics of securities in which the Fund may invest. The Fund may engage in frequent and active trading of portfolio securities.