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 31.34% of the average value of its
portfolio.
Principal Investment Strategies
The Fund invests in a portfolio of equity securities of technology companies that the subadviser believes the magnitude and/or
duration of growth of which is underappreciated by the market. Many, if not most, of the securities in which the Fund invests may be considered to be “growth” stocks, in that they have above-average rates of earnings growth and thus may experience above-average increases in stock prices. The Fund concentrates at least 25% of its total assets in at least one of the following technology
sector industries or any combination thereof: semiconductor, semiconductor equipment, hardware, software, internet, information technology services, networking, communications equipment, social media, interactive media, medical technology
and financial technology. Under normal circumstances, the Fund invests at least 80% of its net assets in securities of U.S. companies in the aforementioned technology sector industries. For these purposes, a “U.S. company” is one whose stock is listed on either the New York Stock Exchange or NASDAQ.
The subadviser uses a fundamental, research-driven strategy that focuses on stock selection to drive performance, seeking high-conviction opportunities that may emerge from technology-driven disruption. The Fund may invest in stocks of companies of any market
capitalization, including small-cap and mid-cap companies. The Fund also may invest in securities of foreign companies that are denominated in U.S. dollars.
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 market expectations exceed the company’s potential to deliver and/or due to balance sheet deterioration. 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.
Growth style risk– growth stocks are generally
more sensitive to market movements than other types of stocks primarily because their stock prices are based heavily on future expectations. If the subadviser’s assessment of
the prospects for a company’s growth is wrong, or if the subadviser’s judgment of how other investors will value the company’s growth is wrong, then the Fund will suffer a loss as the price of the company’s stock may fall or not approach the value that the subadviser has placed on it. In addition, growth stocks as a group sometimes are out of favor and underperform the overall equity market for
long periods while the market concentrates on other types of stocks, such as “value” stocks.