Principal Investment Strategies of the Fund
The Fund invests, under normal circumstances, at least 80% of its net assets (plus any borrowings for investment
purposes) in securities of small-capitalization European issuers, and in derivatives and other instruments
that have economic characteristics similar to such securities. The Fund uses various criteria to determine whether an issuer is in Europe, including whether (1) it is organized under the laws of a country in Europe; (2) it has a principal office in
a country in Europe; (3) it derives 50% or more of its total revenues from business in countries in Europe; (4) its securities are trading principally on a security exchange, or in an over-the-counter (OTC) market, in a country in Europe; or (5)
its “country of risk” is a country in Europe as determined by a third party service provider.
The Fund considers a small-capitalization issuer to be one that has a market capitalization, at the time of purchase, no larger than the market capitalization of the largest capitalized
issuer 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. An issuer’s “market capitalization” is the value of its outstanding stock.
The Fund invests primarily in equity securities and depositary receipts. The principal types of equity securities in which the Fund invests are common and preferred stock.
The Fund invests primarily in securities of issuers that are considered by the Fund’s portfolio managers to have potential for earnings or revenue growth.
The Fund may invest up to 35% of its net assets in securities of European issuers located in emerging market countries, i.e., those that are generally in the early stages of their
industrial cycles.
The Fund can invest in derivative instruments, including forward foreign currency
contracts and futures contracts.
The Fund can use forward foreign
currency contracts to hedge against adverse movements in the foreign currencies in which portfolio securities
are denominated; though the Fund has not historically used these instruments.
The Fund can use futures contracts to gain exposure to the broad market in connection with managing cash balances or to hedge against downside risk.
The portfolio managers’ strategy primarily focuses on identifying issuers
that they believe have a strong “EQV” profile. The portfolio managers’ EQV investment
approach focuses on Earnings, demonstrated by sustainable earnings growth; Quality, demonstrated by efficient capital allocation; and Valuation, demonstrated by attractive prices.
The portfolio managers employ a disciplined investment strategy that emphasizes
fundamental research. The fundamental research primarily focuses on identifying quality growth companies and is supported by quantitative analysis, portfolio construction and risk management. Investments for the portfolio are selected bottom-up
on a security-by-security basis. The focus is on the strengths of individual issuers, rather than sector or
country trends.
The Fund’s portfolio managers may consider
selling a security for several reasons, including when (1) its price changes such that they believe it
has become too expensive, (2) the original investment thesis for the company is no longer valid, or (3) a more compelling investment opportunity is identified.
Principal Risks
of Investing in the Fund
As with any mutual fund investment, loss of money is a risk of investing. An investment in the Fund is not a deposit in a bank and is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance
Corporation or any other governmental agency. The risks associated with an investment in the Fund can increase during times of significant market volatility. The principal risks of investing in the Fund
are:
Market Risk. The market values of the Fund’s investments, and therefore the value of the Fund’s shares, will go up and down, sometimes rapidly or unpredictably. Market risk may
affect a single issuer, industry or
section of the economy, or it may affect the market as a whole. The value of the Fund’s investments may go up or
down due to general market conditions that are not specifically related to the particular issuer, such as
real or perceived adverse economic conditions, changes in the general outlook for revenues or corporate
earnings, changes in interest or currency rates, regional or global instability, natural or environmental disasters, widespread disease or other public health issues, war, military conflict, acts of terrorism, economic crisis or adverse
investor sentiment generally. During a general downturn in the financial markets, multiple asset classes may
decline in value. When markets perform well, there can be no assurance that specific investments held by
the Fund will rise in value.
Investing in Stocks
Risk. The value of the Fund’s portfolio may be affected by changes in the stock markets. Stock markets may experience significant short-term volatility and may fall or
rise sharply at times. Adverse events in any part of the equity or fixed-income markets may have unexpected
negative effects on other market segments. Different stock markets may behave differently from each other and U.S. stock markets may move in the opposite direction from one or more foreign stock markets.
The prices of individual stocks generally do not all move in the same direction at
the same time. However, individual stock prices tend to go up and down more dramatically than those of certain other types of investments, such as bonds. A variety of factors can negatively affect the price of a particular company’s stock.
These factors may include, but are not limited to: poor earnings reports, a loss of customers, litigation against the company, general unfavorable performance of the company’s sector or industry, or changes in government regulations
affecting the company or its industry. To the extent that securities of a particular type are emphasized (for
example foreign stocks, stocks of small- or mid-cap companies, growth or value stocks, or stocks of
companies in a particular industry), fund share values may fluctuate more in response to events affecting the market for those types of securities.
Foreign Securities
Risk. The Fund's foreign investments may be adversely affected by political and social instability, changes in economic or taxation policies, difficulty in
enforcing obligations, decreased liquidity or increased volatility. Foreign investments also involve the risk of the possible seizure, nationalization or expropriation of the issuer or foreign deposits (in which the Fund could lose its entire
investments in a certain market) and the possible adoption of foreign governmental restrictions such as exchange controls. Foreign companies generally may be subject to less stringent regulations than U.S. companies, including
financial reporting requirements and auditing and accounting controls, and may therefore be more
susceptible to fraud or corruption. There may be less public information available about foreign companies
than U.S. companies, making it difficult to evaluate those foreign companies. Unless the Fund has hedged its
foreign currency exposure, foreign securities risk also involves the risk of negative foreign currency rate
fluctuations, which may cause the value of securities denominated in such foreign currency (or other instruments through which the Fund has exposure to foreign currencies) to decline in value. Currency exchange rates may fluctuate
significantly over short periods of time. Currency hedging strategies, if used, are not always
successful.
European Investment Risk.
The Economic and Monetary Union (the “EMU”) of the European Union (the “EU”)
requires compliance with restrictions on inflation rates, deficits, interest rates, debt levels and fiscal
and monetary controls, each of which may significantly affect every country in Europe. Decreasing imports
or exports, changes in governmental or EU regulations on trade, changes in the exchange rate of the euro, the default or threat of default by an EU member country on its sovereign debt, and recessions in an EU member country may have
significant adverse effects on the economies of EU member countries. Responses to financial problems by EU
countries may not produce the desired results, may limit future growth and economic recovery, or may result in social unrest or have other unintended consequences. Further defaults or restructurings by governments and other entities of their debt could have
additional adverse