The Fund considers a mid-capitalization issuer
to be one that has a market capitalization, at the time of purchase, within the range of market
capitalizations of the largest and smallest capitalized issuers included in the Russell Midcap® 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 is not required to sell a security if the issuer’s capitalization moves outside of the Fund’s capitalization definition.
The Fund may invest up to 10% of its net assets in real estate investment trusts (REITs).
The Fund may invest up to 25% of its net assets in securities of foreign issuers, including securities of issuers located in emerging market countries, i.e., those that are generally in the
early stages of their industrial cycles, and depositary receipts.
The Fund can invest in derivative instruments including forward foreign currency contracts, futures contracts and options.
The Fund can use forward foreign currency contracts to hedge against adverse
movements in the foreign currencies in which portfolio securities are denominated.
The Fund can use futures contracts, including index futures, to seek
exposure to certain asset classes.
The Fund can use options to seek investment return or to mitigate risk.
As a result of the Fund’s stock selection process, a
significant portion of the Fund’s assets may be invested in companies within the same industries or
sectors of the market.
The Fund emphasizes a value style of investing
and the portfolio managers seek to invest in undervalued companies they believe possess the potential for
capital growth. In selecting securities, the portfolio managers emphasize the following characteristics, although not all investments will have these attributes:
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Buy businesses trading at a significant discount to the portfolio managers’ estimate of intrinsic value. The portfolio managers believe intrinsic value represents the fair economic
worth of the business.
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Emphasize quality businesses with potential to grow intrinsic value over time. The portfolio managers primarily seek issuers that they believe have solid growth prospects, the ability to
earn an attractive return on invested capital and a management team that exhibits intelligent capital
allocation skills.
The
portfolio managers will consider selling a security if a more attractive investment opportunity is identified, if a security is trading near or above the portfolio managers’ estimate of intrinsic value or if there is a fundamental deterioration in business
prospects that results in inadequate upside potential to estimated intrinsic value.
The portfolio managers seek to achieve strong long-term performance by constructing a
diversified portfolio that they believe offers value content greater than the broad market, as measured by the portfolio’s aggregate discount to the portfolio managers’ estimated intrinsic value of the portfolio. The investment process is
fundamental in nature and focused on individual issuers as opposed to macroeconomic forecasts or specific industry exposure. The portfolio construction process is intended to preserve and grow the estimated intrinsic value of the
Fund’s portfolio rather than mirror the composition or sector weights of any benchmark.
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.
Small- and Mid-Capitalization Companies Risk. Investing in securities of
small- and mid-capitalization companies involves greater risk than customarily is associated with investing in larger, more established companies. Stocks of small- and mid-capitalization companies tend to be more vulnerable to changing market conditions,
may have little or no operating history or track record of success, and may have more limited product lines
and markets, less experienced management and fewer financial resources than larger companies. These companies’ securities may be more volatile and less liquid than those of more established companies. They may be more sensitive to changes in a
company’s earnings expectations and may experience more abrupt and erratic price movements. Smaller
companies’ securities often trade in lower volumes and in many instances, are traded over-the-counter or on a regional securities exchange, where the frequency and volume of trading is substantially less than is typical for securities of larger companies
traded on national securities exchanges. Therefore, the securities of smaller companies may be subject to
wider price fluctuations and it might be harder for the Fund to dispose of its holdings at an acceptable price when it wants to sell them. Since small- and mid-cap companies typically reinvest a high proportion of their earnings in their business, they may not pay
dividends for some time, particularly if they are newer companies. It may take a substantial period of time to realize a gain on an investment in a small- or mid-cap company, if any gain is realized at all.
Value Investing Risk. Value investing entails the risk that if the market does not recognize that a selected security is undervalued, the
prices of that security might not appreciate as anticipated. A value approach could also result in fewer
investments that increase rapidly during times of market gains and could cause a fund to underperform funds that use a growth or non-value approach to investing. Value investing has gone in and out of favor during past market cycles and
when value investing is out of favor or when markets are unstable, the securities of value companies may
underperform the securities of growth companies or the overall stock market.