disruptions, regulatory events, other
governmental trade or market control programs and related geopolitical events. In addition, the
value of the Fund’s investments may be negatively affected by the occurrence of global events such as war, terrorism, environmental disasters, natural disasters or events, country instability, and infectious disease epidemics
or pandemics or the threat or potential of one or more such factors and occurrences.
Growth Investing Risk. Because growth investing attempts to identify companies that the adviser believes will experience rapid earnings growth relative to value or other types of stocks, growth stocks may trade at higher multiples
of current earnings compared to value or other stocks, leading to inflated prices and thus
potentially greater declines in value.
Large Cap
Company Risk. Because the Fund invests in large cap company securities, it may underperform other
funds during periods when the Fund’s large cap securities are out of favor.
Smaller Company Risk. Investments in securities of
smaller companies (mid cap and small cap companies) may be riskier, less liquid, more volatile
and more vulnerable to economic, market and industry changes than securities of larger, more
established companies. The securities of smaller companies may trade less frequently and in
smaller volumes than securities of larger companies. As a result, changes in the price of
securities issued by such companies may be more sudden or erratic than the prices of securities
of larger companies, especially over the short term. These risks are higher for small cap companies.
Derivatives Risk. Derivatives, including futures contracts, may be riskier than other types of investments and may increase the
volatility of the Fund. Derivatives may be sensitive to changes in economic and market conditions
and may create leverage, which could result in losses that significantly exceed the Fund’s
original investment. The Fund may be more volatile than if the Fund had not been leveraged
because the leverage tends to exaggerate any effect on the value of the Fund’s portfolio
securities. Certain derivatives expose the Fund to counterparty risk, which is the risk that the
derivative counterparty will not fulfill its contractual obligations (and includes credit risk associated with the counterparty). Certain derivatives are synthetic instruments that attempt to replicate the
performance of certain reference assets. With regard to such derivatives, the Fund does not have
a claim on the reference assets and is subject to enhanced counterparty risk. Derivatives may not
perform as expected, so the Fund may not realize the intended benefits. When used for hedging,
the change in value of a derivative may not correlate as expected with the security or other risk
being hedged. In addition, given their complexity, derivatives expose the Fund to risks of mispricing or improper valuation. Derivatives also can expose the Fund to derivative liquidity risk, which includes risks involving
the liquidity demands that derivatives can create to make payments of margin, collateral, or
settlement payments to counterparties, legal risk, which includes the risk of loss resulting from insufficient or unenforceable contractual documentation, insufficient capacity or authority of the Fund’s
counterparty and operational risk, which includes documentation or settlement issues, system
failures, inadequate controls and human error. Certain of the Fund’s transactions in
foreign currency derivatives and other derivatives could also affect the amount, timing and character of distributions to shareholders which may result in the Fund realizing more ordinary income and short-term
capital gain
subject to tax at ordinary income tax rates than it would if it did not engage in such transactions, which may adversely impact the Fund’s after-tax returns.
Non-Diversified Fund Risk. Since the Fund is non-diversified, it may invest a greater percentage of its assets in a particular issuer or group of issuers than a diversified fund would. This increased investment in fewer issuers may
result in the Fund’s shares being more sensitive to economic results of those issuing the
securities. The value of the Fund’s shares may also be more volatile than the value of a fund which invests in more securities.
Industry and Sector Focus Risk. At times, the Fund may increase the relative emphasis of its investments in a particular industry or sector. The prices of securities of issuers in a particular industry or sector may be more susceptible to
fluctuations due to changes in economic or business conditions, government regulations,
availability of basic resources or supplies, contagion risk within a particular industry or sector or to other industries or sectors, or other events that affect that industry or sector more than securities of issuers in other
industries and sectors. To the extent that the Fund increases the relative emphasis of its
investments in a particular industry or sector, the value of the Fund’s shares may fluctuate in response to events affecting that industry or sector.
Technology Sector Risk. Market or economic factors impacting technology companies could have an impact on the value of the Fund’s investments. The value of stocks of technology companies is particularly vulnerable to rapid
changes in technology product cycles, rapid product obsolescence and frequent new product
introduction, unpredictable changes in growth rates, competition for the services of qualified personnel, government regulation and competition, both domestically and internationally, including competition from
foreign competitors with lower production costs, all of which may have an adverse effect on their
profit margins. Stocks of technology companies, especially those of smaller, less-seasoned
companies, tend to be more volatile than the overall market. Technology companies are heavily
dependent on patent and intellectual property rights, the loss or impairment of which may
adversely affect their profitability.
Communication Services Sector Risk. Communication services companies may be greatly affected by technological advancements, market competition, supply chain issues, and
labor shortages. Companies in the communication services sector may also be affected by research
and development costs, substantial capital requirements, pricing competition and government
regulations. Certain communication services companies may also be susceptible to network security
breaches, including hacking, ransomware attacks, denial of service attacks, and potential theft,
loss, or unauthorized disclosure of proprietary or consumer information, which may result in
disruptions in service, reputational damage, regulatory penalties, or financial losses. Additionally, the communication services sector is impacted by fluctuating market demands both domestically and internationally, as well as
shifting demographics and unpredictable changes in consumer preferences. Companies in the
communication services sector also face intense competition in new product development, deployment,
and delivery.