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 93.79% of the average value of its
portfolio.
Principal Investment Strategies
The Fund seeks to invest in stocks of companies that drive superior innovation through the efficient allocation of capital to
research and development, leading potentially to higher growth and profitability. The subadviser seeks to identify portfolio securities through a bottom-up, in-depth fundamental research investment approach to identify high conviction issuers with
strong fundamentals at a relatively attractive valuation.
The Fund invests considerably in stocks of U.S. companies, although it also may invest in dollar-denominated securities of foreign companies. The Fund may invest in stocks of companies of any market capitalization, including small-cap and mid-cap
companies. Companies in which the Fund invests may come from any industry or sector, and at times the Fund may increase the relative emphasis of its investments in a particular industry or sector. Although the Fund maintains a diversified portfolio, it nonetheless may invest in a limited number of issuers.
The Fund’s subadviser may sell a security for several reasons. A security may be sold
due to a change in the original investment thesis, if the stock meets or exceeds the subadviser's expectations, if the stock fails to meet the subadviser's expectations, due to
balance sheet deterioration and/or in order to manage portfolio risk. Investments may also be sold if the subadviser identifies a stock that it believes offers a better investment opportunity.
The Fund cannot guarantee that it will achieve its investment objective.
As with any fund, the value of the Fund’s investments—and therefore, the value of
Fund shares—may fluctuate. These changes may occur because of:
Equity securities risk– stock markets are
volatile. The price of an equity security fluctuates based on changes in a company’s financial condition and overall market and economic conditions.
Market risk – the risk that one or more markets in which the Fund invests will go down in value, including the possibility that the
markets will go down sharply and unpredictably. This occurs due to numerous factors, including interest rates, the outlook for corporate profits, the health of the national and world economies, and the fluctuation of other securities markets around the
world. These risks may be magnified if certain social, political, economic and other conditions and events (such as natural disasters, epidemics and pandemics, terrorism, conflicts and social unrest) adversely interrupt the global economy.
Selection risk – the risk that the securities selected by the Fund’s subadviser will underperform the markets, the relevant indexes or the securities selected by other funds with similar investment objectives and investment strategies.
Foreign securities risk – foreign securities
often are more volatile, harder to price and less liquid than U.S. securities.
Smaller company risk – smaller companies are usually less stable in price and less liquid than larger, more established companies. Smaller
companies are more vulnerable than larger companies to adverse business and economic developments and may have more limited resources. Therefore, they generally involve greater
risk.
Sector risk – investments in particular industries or sectors may be more volatile than the overall stock market. Therefore, if the
Fund emphasizes one or more industries or economic sectors, it will be more susceptible to financial, market or economic events affecting the particular issuers and industries participating in such sectors than funds that do not emphasize particular industries or sectors.