companies are
generally more volatile than and may underperform larger capitalization companies, may have limited liquidity, may be harder to sell at times and at prices the portfolio managers believe appropriate
and may offer greater potential for losses.
Equity Securities – Equity securities generally have greater risk of loss than debt securities. Stock markets are
volatile and the value of equity securities may go up or down, sometimes rapidly and
unpredictably. The market price of an equity security may fluctuate based on overall market conditions, such as real or perceived adverse economic or political conditions or trends, tariffs and trade disruptions, wars,
social unrest, inflation, substantial economic downturn or recession, changes in interest rates, or adverse investor sentiment. The market price of an equity security also may fluctuate based on real or
perceived factors affecting a particular industry or industries or the company itself. If the market prices of the equity securities owned by the fund fall, the value of your investment in the fund will
decline. The fund may lose its entire investment in the equity securities of an issuer. A change in financial condition or other event affecting a single issuer may adversely impact securities markets
as a whole.
Sector Focus – To the extent the fund invests more heavily in a particular market sector, the value of the fund’s
shares will be especially sensitive to developments that significantly affect that sector
and there is increased risk that the fund will lose significant value if conditions adversely affect that sector. Individual sectors may be more volatile, and may perform differently, from the broader market.
Information Technology Sector – Information technology companies face intense competition and potentially rapid product obsolescence, including due to rapid development of technological innovations and frequent new product
introduction. They may face unexpected risks and costs associated with technological developments, such as artificial intelligence and machine learning. Such companies are also heavily dependent on
intellectual property rights and may be adversely impacted by the loss, impairment of, or
inability to enforce those rights. They are also facing increased government and regulatory scrutiny and may be subject to adverse government or regulatory action. These companies may be developing or marketing new products or services
for which markets are not yet established and may never become established.
Management – The value of your investment may go down if the investment manager’s or sub-adviser's judgments and decisions are incorrect or otherwise do
not produce the desired results, or if the investment strategy does not work as intended. You may also suffer losses if there are imperfections, errors or limitations in the quantitative, analytic or other
tools, resources, information and data used, investment techniques applied, or the analyses employed or relied on, by the investment manager or sub-adviser, if such tools, resources, information or data are used incorrectly or otherwise do not work as intended, or if the investment manager’s or sub-adviser's investment
style is out of favor or otherwise fails to produce the desired results. Any of these things could cause the fund to lose value or its results to lag relevant benchmarks or other funds with similar
objectives.
Active Trading – The fund may engage in active trading of
its portfolio. Active trading will increase transaction costs and could detract from
performance. Active trading may be more pronounced during periods of market volatility and may generate greater amounts of short-term capital gains.
Cybersecurity –
Cybersecurity incidents, both intentional and unintentional, may allow an unauthorized party to gain access to fund assets, fund or shareholder data (including private shareholder information), or proprietary
information, cause the fund or its service providers (including, but not limited to, the fund’s investment manager, any sub-adviser(s), transfer agent, distributor, custodian, fund accounting agent and
financial intermediaries) to suffer data breaches, data corruption or loss of operational functionality, or prevent fund investors from purchasing, redeeming or exchanging shares, receiving distributions or
receiving timely information regarding the fund or their investment in the fund.
Cybersecurity incidents may render records of fund assets and transactions, shareholder
ownership of fund shares, and other data integral to the functioning of the fund inaccessible, inaccurate or incomplete. The use of artificial intelligence and machine learning could exacerbate these risks.
Cybersecurity incidents may result in financial losses to the fund and its shareholders, and substantial costs may be incurred in order to prevent or mitigate any future cybersecurity incidents.
Foreign Investments – Investing in securities of foreign issuers or issuers with significant exposure to foreign
markets involves additional risks. Foreign markets can be less liquid, less regulated, less
transparent and more volatile than U.S. markets. The value of the fund’s foreign investments may decline, sometimes rapidly or unpredictably, because of factors affecting the particular issuer as well as foreign markets and issuers
generally, such as unfavorable government actions, including nationalization, expropriation or confiscatory taxation, reduction of government or central bank support, tariffs and trade disruptions,
sanctions, political or financial instability, social unrest or other adverse economic or political developments. Foreign investments may also be subject to different accounting practices and different
regulatory, legal, auditing, financial reporting and recordkeeping standards and practices,
and may be more difficult to value than investments in U.S. issuers. Certain foreign
clearance and settlement procedures may result in an inability to execute transactions or delays in settlement.
Large Shareholder – A significant portion of the fund’s shares may be owned by one or more investment vehicles or institutional investors. Transactions by these
large shareholders may be disruptive to the management of the fund. For example, the fund
may experience large redemptions and could be required to sell securities at a time when it may not otherwise desire to do so. Such transactions may increase the fund’s brokerage and/or other transaction costs. These
transactions may also accelerate the realization of taxable capital gains to shareholders. In addition, sizeable redemptions could cause the fund’s total expenses to increase.
Liquidity – The fund may make investments that are illiquid
or that become illiquid after purchase. Illiquid investments can be difficult to value, may
trade at a discount from comparable, more liquid investments, and may be subject to wide fluctuations in value. Liquidity risk may be magnified in rising interest rate or volatile environments. If the fund is
forced to sell an illiquid investment to meet redemption requests or other cash needs, the fund