downgrades, embargoes, tariffs, sanctions
and other trade barriers, regulatory events, other governmental trade or market control programs
and related geopolitical events. In addition, the value of the Fund’s investments may be negatively affected by the occurrence of global events such as war, terrorism, environmental disasters, natural disasters or
events, country instability, and infectious disease epidemics or pandemics.
Value Investing Risk. A value stock may decrease in price
or may not increase in price as anticipated by the adviser if other investors fail to recognize
the company’s value or the factors that the adviser believes will cause the stock price to increase do not occur.
Large Cap Company Risk. Because the Fund invests principally in large cap company securities, it may underperform other funds during periods when the Fund’s large cap
securities are out of favor.
Mid Cap Company Risk. Investments in mid cap companies may be riskier, less liquid, more volatile and more vulnerable to economic, market and industry changes than
investments in larger, more established companies. The securities of smaller companies may trade
less frequently and in smaller volumes than securities of larger companies. As a result, changes in the price of securities issued by such companies may be more sudden or erratic than the prices of other equity
securities, especially over the short term.
Derivatives Risk. Derivatives, including futures contracts, may be riskier than other types of investments and may increase the volatility of the Fund. Derivatives may be
sensitive to changes in economic and market conditions and may create leverage, which could
result in losses that significantly exceed the Fund’s original investment. The Fund may be more volatile than if the Fund had not been leveraged because the leverage tends to exaggerate any effect on the value of the
Fund’s portfolio securities. Certain derivatives expose the Fund to counterparty risk,
which is the risk that the derivative counterparty will not fulfill its contractual obligations (and includes credit risk associated with the counterparty). Certain derivatives are synthetic instruments that attempt to replicate the
performance of certain reference assets. With regard to such derivatives, the Fund does not have
a claim on the reference assets and is subject to enhanced counterparty risk. Derivatives may not
perform as expected, so the Fund may not realize the intended benefits. When used for hedging,
the change in value of a derivative may not correlate as expected with the security or other risk
being hedged. In addition, given their complexity, derivatives expose the Fund to risks of mispricing or improper valuation. Derivatives also can expose the Fund to derivative liquidity risk, which includes risks involving
the liquidity demands that derivatives can create to make payments of margin, collateral, or
settlement payments to counterparties, legal risk, which includes the risk of loss resulting from insufficient or unenforceable contractual documentation, insufficient capacity or authority of the Fund’s
counterparty and operational risk, which includes documentation or settlement issues, system
failures, inadequate controls and human error.
High Portfolio Turnover Risk. The Fund may engage in active and frequent trading leading to increased portfolio turnover, higher transaction costs, and the possibility that
the recognition of capital gains will be accelerated, including short-term capital gains that
will generally be taxable to shareholders as ordinary income.
Industry and Sector Focus
Risk. At times, the Fund may increase the relative emphasis of its investments in a particular
industry or sector. The prices of securities of issuers in a particular industry or sector may be
more susceptible to fluctuations due to changes in economic or business conditions, government
regulations, availability of basic resources or supplies, contagion risk within a particular
industry or sector or to other industries or sectors, or other events that affect that industry or sector more than securities of issuers in other industries and sectors. To the extent that the Fund increases the
relative emphasis of its investments in a particular industry or sector, the value of the
Fund’s shares may fluctuate in response to events affecting that industry or sector.
Financials Sector Risk. Financial services companies are subject to extensive governmental regulation which may limit both the amounts and types of loans and other financial
commitments they can make, the interest rates and fees they can charge, the scope of their
activities, the prices they can charge and the amount of capital they must maintain. Profitability is largely dependent on the availability and cost of capital funds and can fluctuate significantly when interest rates
change or due to increased competition. In addition, deterioration of the credit markets
generally may cause an adverse impact in a broad range of markets, including U.S. and international credit and interbank money markets generally, thereby affecting a wide range of financial institutions and markets.
Certain events in the financials sector may cause an unusually high degree of volatility in the
financial markets, both domestic and foreign, and cause certain financial services companies to incur large losses. Securities of financial services companies may experience a dramatic decline in value when such companies
experience substantial declines in the valuations of their assets, take action to raise capital
(such as the issuance of debt or equity securities), or cease operations. Credit losses resulting from financial difficulties of borrowers and financial losses associated with investment activities can negatively impact the
sector. Insurance companies may be subject to severe price competition. Adverse economic,
business or political developments could adversely affect financial institutions engaged in mortgage finance or other lending or investing activities directly or indirectly connected to the value of real
estate.
Healthcare Sector Risk. Companies in the healthcare sector are subject to extensive government regulation and their
profitability can be significantly affected by restrictions on government reimbursement for
medical expenses, rising costs of medical products and services, pricing pressure (including price
discounting), limited product lines and an increased emphasis on the delivery of healthcare
through outpatient services. Companies in the healthcare sector are heavily dependent on
obtaining and defending patents, which may be time consuming and costly, and the expiration of
patents may also adversely affect the profitability of these companies. Healthcare companies are
also subject to extensive litigation based on product liability and similar claims. In addition, their products can become obsolete due to industry innovation, changes in technologies or other market developments. Many new
products in the healthcare sector require significant research and development and may be subject
to regulatory approvals, all of which may be time consuming and costly with no guarantee that any
product will come to market.