bankruptcy or liquidation.
Preferred stockholders’ liquidation rights are subordinate to the company’s debt holders and creditors. If interest rates rise, the fixed dividend on preferred stocks may be
less attractive and the price of preferred stocks may decline. Preferred stockholders typically
do not have voting rights.
Convertible
Securities Risk. Convertible security values may be affected by market interest rates, issuer
defaults and underlying common stock values; security values may fall if market
interest rates rise and rise if market interest rates fall. Additionally, an issuer may have the right to buy back the securities at a time unfavorable to the Fund.
Warrants and Rights Risk. Warrants and rights can provide a greater potential for profit or loss than an equivalent investment in the underlying
security. Warrants and rights have no voting rights, pay no dividends and have no
rights with respect to the assets of the issuer other than a purchase option. Prices of warrants and rights do not necessarily move in tandem with the prices of the underlying securities and
therefore are highly volatile and speculative investments. Warrants and rights
may lack a liquid secondary market for resale. If a warrant or right held by the
Fund is not exercised by the date of its expiration, the Fund would lose the entire purchase price
of the warrant or right.
Large- and Mid-Cap Companies Risk. Investing in large- and mid-cap companies carries the risk that due to current market conditions these companies
may be out of favor with investors. Large-cap companies may be unable to respond
quickly to new competitive challenges or attain the high growth rate of successful smaller companies. Stocks of mid-cap companies may be more volatile than those of larger companies due to, among
other reasons, narrower product lines, more limited financial resources and fewer experienced
managers.
Market Risk. The Fund’s share price can fall because of weakness in the broad market, a particular industry, or
specific holdings or due to adverse social, political or economic developments
here or abroad, changes in investor psychology, technological disruptions, or heavy
institutional selling and other conditions or events (including, for example,
military confrontations, war, terrorism, trade wars, disease/virus outbreaks and
epidemics). The prices of individual securities may fluctuate, sometimes
dramatically, from day to day. The prices of stocks and other equity securities tend to be more
volatile than those of fixed-income securities.
Value Style Risk. Generally, “value” stocks are stocks of companies that are considered to be currently
undervalued in the marketplace. The assessment that a particular security is undervalued in relation to the company’s fundamental economic
value may prove incorrect, and the price of the company’s stock may fall or may not
approach the value that has been attributed to it.
Quantitative Investing Risk. The value of securities selected using quantitative analysis can react differently to issuer, political, market, and
economic developments from the market as a whole or securities selected using only
fundamental analysis. The factors used in quantitative analysis and the weight
placed on those factors may not be predictive of a security’s value. In addition, factors that affect a security’s value can change over time and these changes may not be reflected in the
quantitative model.
Sector Risk. Companies with similar characteristics may be grouped together in broad categories called sectors. Sector risk is the risk that
securities of companies within specific sectors of the economy can perform differently than the overall market. This may be due to changes in such things as the regulatory or
competitive environment or to changes in investor perceptions regarding a sector.
Because the Fund may allocate relatively more assets to certain sectors than
others, the Fund’s performance may be more susceptible to any developments which affect
those sectors emphasized by the Fund.
Active Trading Risk. High portfolio turnover rates that are associated with active trading may result in higher transaction costs, which can adversely
affect the Fund’s performance. Active trading tends to be more pronounced during periods
of increased market volatility.
Securities Lending Risk. Engaging in securities lending could increase the market and credit risk for Fund investments. The Fund may lose money if it
does not recover borrowed securities, the value of the collateral falls, or the
value of investments made with cash collateral declines. The Fund’s loans will be collateralized by securities issued or guaranteed by the U.S. Government or its agencies and instrumentalities,
which subjects the Fund to the credit risk of the U.S. Government or the issuing
federal agency or instrumentality. If the value of either the cash collateral or the Fund’s investments of the cash collateral falls below the amount owed to a borrower, the Fund also may incur losses that
exceed the amount it earned on lending the security. Securities lending also
involves the risks of delay in receiving additional collateral or possible loss
of rights in the collateral if the borrower fails. Another risk of securities lending is the risk that the loaned portfolio securities may not be available to the Fund on a timely basis and the Fund
may therefore lose the opportunity to sell the securities at a desirable price.