index by giving the same weight to a given stock as the index does. However,
when the investment adviser believes it is appropriate to do so, such as to avoid purchasing odd-lots (i.e., purchasing less than the usual number of shares traded for a security), for tax considerations, or to address liquidity considerations with
respect to a stock, the investment adviser may cause the fund’s weighting of a stock to be more or less than the index’s weighting of the stock. The fund may sell securities that are represented in the index in anticipation of their
removal from the index, or buy securities that are not yet represented in the index in anticipation of their addition to the index.
Under normal circumstances, the fund may invest up to 10% of
its net assets in securities not included in the index. The principal types of these investments include those that the investment adviser believes will help the fund track the index, such as investments in (a) securities that are not represented in
the index but the investment adviser anticipates will be added to the index or as necessary to reflect various corporate actions (such as mergers and spin-offs); (b) other investment companies; and (c) derivatives, principally futures contracts. The
fund may use futures contracts and other derivatives primarily to seek returns on the fund’s otherwise uninvested cash assets to help it better track the index. The fund may also invest in cash and cash equivalents, including money market
funds, and may lend its securities to minimize the difference in performance that naturally exists between an index fund and its corresponding index.
The fund will concentrate its investments (i.e., hold 25% or
more of its total assets) in a particular industry, group of industries or sector to approximately the same extent that the index is so concentrated.
The investment adviser seeks to achieve, over time, a
correlation between the fund’s performance and that of the index, before fees and expenses, of 95% or better. However, there can be no guarantee that the fund will achieve a high degree of correlation with the index. A number of factors may
affect the fund’s ability to achieve a high correlation with the index, including transaction costs, asset valuations, corporate actions (such as mergers and spin-offs), timing variances, and differences between the fund’s portfolio and
the index resulting from legal restrictions (such as diversification requirements) that apply to the fund but not to the index.
Principal Risks
The fund is subject to risks, any of which could cause an
investor to lose money. The fund’s principal risks include:
Market Risk. Financial markets
rise and fall in response to a variety of factors, sometimes rapidly and unpredictably. As with any investment whose performance is tied to these markets, the value of an investment in the fund will fluctuate, which means that an investor could lose
money over short or long periods.
Equity Risk. The prices of equity securities rise and fall daily. These price movements may result from factors affecting individual companies, industries or the securities market as a whole. In addition, equity markets tend to
move in cycles which may cause stock prices to fall over short or extended periods of time.
Investment Style
Risk. The fund primarily invests in dividend paying stocks. As a result, fund performance will correlate with the performance of the dividend paying stock segment of the stock market, and the fund may
underperform funds that do not limit their investments to dividend paying stocks. If stocks held by the fund reduce or stop paying dividends, the fund’s ability to generate income may be affected.
The fund is an index fund. Therefore, the fund follows the
securities included in the index during upturns as well as downturns. Because of its indexing strategy, the fund does not take steps to reduce market exposure or to lessen the effects of a declining market. In addition, because of the fund’s
expenses, the fund’s performance may be below that of the index.
Market Capitalization Risk.
Securities issued by companies of different market capitalizations tend to go in and out of favor based on market and economic conditions. During a period when securities of a particular market capitalization fall behind other types of investments,
the fund’s performance could be impacted.
Large-Cap Company Risk.
Large-cap companies are generally more mature and the securities issued by these companies may not be able to reach the same levels of growth as the securities issued by small- or mid-cap companies.
Mid-Cap Company Risk. Mid-cap
companies may be more vulnerable to adverse business or economic events than larger, more established companies and the value of securities issued by these companies may move sharply.
Small-Cap Company Risk.
Securities issued by small-cap companies may be riskier than those issued by larger companies, and their prices may move sharply, especially during market upturns and downturns.
Tracking Error Risk. As
an index fund, the fund seeks to track the performance of the index, although it may not be successful in doing so. The divergence between the performance of the fund and the index, positive or negative, is called “tracking
error.” Tracking error can be caused by many factors and it may be significant.
Derivatives Risk. The
fund’s use of derivative instruments involves risks different from, or possibly greater than, the risks associated with investing directly in securities and other traditional investments. The fund’s use of derivatives could reduce the
fund’s performance, increase the fund’s volatility, and could cause the fund to lose more than the initial amount invested. In addition, investments in derivatives may involve leverage, which means a small percentage of assets
invested in derivatives can have a disproportionately large impact on the fund.
Liquidity Risk. The fund
may be unable to sell certain securities, such as illiquid securities, readily at a favorable time or price, or the fund may have to sell them at a loss.
Securities Lending Risk.
Securities lending involves the risk of loss of rights in, or delay in recovery of, the loaned securities if the borrower fails to return the security loaned or becomes insolvent.