Portfolio
Turnover
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 19% of the average value of its portfolio.
Principal Investment Strategies
Nomura Investments Fund Advisers (“NIFA” or “Sub-Adviser”) serves as the Fund’s sub-adviser.
The Fund invests primarily in stocks of small-and mid-capitalization companies that
the Sub-Adviser believes have a combination of attractive valuations, growth prospects, and strong cash flows. The Fund, under normal circumstances, invests at least 80% of
its assets in equity securities of small-and mid-capitalization companies (80% policy). For purposes of this Fund, small-capitalization companies are those whose market capitalization is within the range of the Russell 2000® Index at the time of purchase and mid-capitalization companies are those within the market capitalization range of the Russell
Midcap® Index at the time of purchase. The two indices listed above are for purposes of determining range and not for targeting portfolio management. The Fund may invest up to 15% of its assets in real estate investment trusts (REITs) and up to 20% of its assets in foreign securities.
The Fund employs bottom-up (stock-by-stock) security selection utilizing quantitative
screens, fundamental research, and risk control to evaluate stocks based on both growth and value characteristics. The Sub-Adviser typically uses a quantitative screen that
ranks the attractiveness of an investment based on a combination of valuation measures, earnings expectations, cash flow, and balance-sheet quality. In further evaluating the attractiveness of an investment, the Sub-Adviser considers factors such as business conditions in the company’s industry and its competitive position in that industry. The Sub-Adviser conducts fundamental research on certain investments, which often includes reviewing U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) filings, examining financial statements, and meeting with top-level company executives. When constructing the portfolio, the Sub-Adviser applies controls to ensure the portfolio has acceptable risk characteristics. These characteristics include, but are not limited to, size, valuation, growth, yield, and earnings consistency. The risk characteristics are then compared to the benchmark index as a way to ensure the portfolio does not have any unintended risk exposure.
The Fund’s 80% policy is nonfundamental and may be changed without shareholder approval. Fund shareholders would be given at least 60 days’ notice prior to any such change.
All mutual funds carry risk. Accordingly, loss of money is a risk of investing in the Fund. The following
risks reflect the principal risks of the Fund.
•
Market Risk. The value of portfolio investments may decline. As a result, your investment in
the Fund may decline in value and you could lose money.
•
Stock/Equity Investing Risk. Stocks and other equities generally fluctuate in value more than bonds and may decline significantly over
short time periods. Equity prices overall may decline because stock markets tend to move in cycles, with periods of rising and falling prices.
•
Issuer Risk. The prices of, and the income generated by, portfolio securities may decline in response to various factors directly related to the issuers of such securities.
•
Active Management Risk. The portfolio investments are actively-managed, rather than tracking an index or rigidly following certain
rules, which may negatively affect investment performance. Consequently, there is the risk that the methods and analyses, including models, tools and data, employed in this
process may be flawed or incorrect and may not produce desired results.
•
Small- and Medium-Cap Company Risk. The value of securities issued by small- and medium-sized companies may be subject to more abrupt market
movements and may involve greater risks than investments in larger companies. These less developed, lesser-known companies may experience greater risks than those normally
associated with larger companies. Small- and medium-sized companies also may be subject to interest rate risk, which is generally associated with fixed income securities,
because these companies often borrow money to finance their operations; therefore, they may be adversely affected by rising interest rates.
•
Foreign Currency Risk. Foreign currency risk is the risk that the U.S. dollar value of
foreign investments may be negatively affected by changes in foreign (non-U.S.) currency rates. Currency exchange rates may fluctuate significantly over short periods
of time. In addition, currency management strategies may substantially change the Fund’s exposure to currency exchange rates and could negatively affect the value of the Fund’s foreign investments, if currencies do not perform as expected. Currency management strategies also may reduce the Fund’s ability to benefit from favorable changes in currency exchange rates.
•
Real Estate Sector Risk. When a fund concentrates its investments in the real estate industry, it is not as diversified among other
industries, and therefore may experience price declines when conditions are unfavorable in the real estate industry.