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Class R6 Shares (NBMRX) | Neuberger Berman Mid Cap Intrinsic Value Fund
GOAL
The Fund seeks growth of capital.
Fees and Expenses
These tables describe the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy and hold shares of the Fund.
Shareholder Fees (fees paid directly from your investment)
Shareholder Fees
Class R6 Shares (NBMRX)
Neuberger Berman Mid Cap Intrinsic Value Fund
Class R6
USD ($)
Shareholder Fees (fees paid directly from your investment) none
Annual Fund Operating Expenses (expenses that you pay each year as a % of the value of your investment)
Annual Fund Operating Expenses
Class R6 Shares (NBMRX)
Neuberger Berman Mid Cap Intrinsic Value Fund
Class R6
Management fees 0.60%
Distribution and/or shareholder service (12b-1) fees none
Other expenses 0.42%
Total annual operating expenses 1.02%
Fee waiver and/or expense reimbursement 0.26%
Total annual operating expenses after fee waiver and/or expense reimbursement 0.76% [1]
[1] Neuberger Berman Investment Advisers LLC (“Manager”) has contractually undertaken to waive and/or reimburse certain fees and expenses of Class R6 so that the total annual operating expenses (excluding interest, taxes, brokerage commissions, acquired fund fees and expenses, dividend and interest expenses relating to short sales, and extraordinary expenses, if any) (“annual operating expenses”) are limited to 0.75% of average net assets. This undertaking lasts until 8/31/2024 and may not be terminated during its term without the consent of the Board of Trustees. The Fund has agreed that Class R6 will repay the Manager for fees and expenses waived or reimbursed for that class provided that repayment does not cause annual operating expenses to exceed 0.75% of its average net assets. Any such repayment must be made within three years after the year in which the Manager incurred the expense.
Expense Example
The expense example can help you compare costs among mutual funds. The example assumes that you invested $10,000 for the periods shown, that you redeemed all of your shares at the end of those periods, that the Fund earned a hypothetical 5% total return each year, and that the Fund’s expenses were those in the table. Actual performance and expenses may be higher or lower.
Expense Example
1 Year
3 Years
5 Years
10 Years
Class R6 Shares (NBMRX) | Neuberger Berman Mid Cap Intrinsic Value Fund | Class R6 | USD ($) 78 243 483 1,173
Portfolio Turnover
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 and may result in higher taxes when Fund shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in annual operating expenses or in the example, affect the Fund’s performance. During the most recent fiscal year, the Fund’s portfolio turnover rate was 16% of the average value of its portfolio.
Principal Investment Strategies
To pursue its goal, the Fund normally invests at least 80% of its net assets in equity securities of mid-capitalization companies, which it defines as those with a total market capitalization within the market capitalization range of the Russell Midcap® Value Index at the time of purchase.
The Fund’s strategy consists of using a bottom-up, fundamental research driven approach to identify stocks of companies that are trading below the Portfolio Manager’s estimate of their intrinsic value and that he believes have the potential for appreciation over time. The Portfolio Manager’s estimate of a company’s intrinsic value represents his view of the company’s true, long-term economic worth, the market’s view of which may be currently distorted by market inefficiencies. The intrinsic value estimate represents what the Portfolio Manager believes a company could be worth if it is acquired, if its profitability returns to its long-term average level, or if its valuation moves in line with those companies that the Portfolio Manager sees as its publicly traded peers.
The Portfolio Manager believes that while markets are often efficient, valuations of certain types of companies are often distorted by market inefficiencies, which can lead to attractive investment opportunities. The Portfolio Manager attempts to exploit recurring market inefficiencies among the following types of companies as the Portfolio Manager believes these types of companies are often misunderstood and mispriced by investors.
Complex Companies: These companies typically have multiple lines of business that are in different industries or sectors and/or that have different growth rates and profitability characteristics.
Cyclical Companies: These companies typically have ebbs and flows in their business depending on demand patterns for their products, the length of product cycles, or other transient factors.
Companies in a Period of Interrupted Growth: Typically, these are companies in attractive, high growth markets that have suffered what the Portfolio Manager believes is a temporary setback and/or are in transition to a more mature, lower growth business model that focuses more on current earnings than on rapid growth.
In seeking to identify potential investment opportunities, the Portfolio Manager performs an initial screening to identify those companies that have stock prices that are trailing the performance of the overall market and that he believes are attractive relative to current cash flows. Next, the Portfolio Manager establishes an estimate of a company’s intrinsic value. The Portfolio Manager will invest in a company based on its discount to his estimate of intrinsic value and his belief in its potential for appreciation over time. In addition, the Portfolio Manager may invest in anticipation of a catalyst that can be expected to close the value/price gap, such as a merger, restructuring, liquidation, spin-off, major management change, share repurchase, or capital reallocation. The Portfolio Manager will typically visit a company and interview its management team to help understand management’s incentives (such as equity ownership in the company and compensation plans), the merits of its strategic plan, and other factors that have the potential to increase the value of the company’s stock.
The Portfolio Manager establishes an intrinsic value for a company’s stock when it is purchased and then continues to evaluate the company’s stock price versus his estimate of its intrinsic value to determine whether to maintain, add to, reduce or eliminate the position. The Portfolio Manager typically reduces or eliminates a position in a company’s stock if the stock’s price appreciates and the company’s discount to his estimate of its intrinsic value narrows. The Portfolio Manager’s decision to reduce or eliminate a position in a particular stock may also be driven by his belief that another company’s stock has a wider discount to his estimate of its intrinsic value. Changes in a company’s management or corporate strategy, or the failure of a company to perform as expected, may also cause the Portfolio Manager to reduce or eliminate a position in that company’s stock.
Although the Fund invests primarily in domestic stocks, it may also invest in stocks of foreign companies.
The Fund may invest in restricted securities, including private placements, which are securities that are subject to legal restrictions on their sale and may not be sold to the public unless registered under the applicable securities law or pursuant to an applicable exemption.
The Fund seeks to reduce risk by diversifying among many companies, sectors and industries. At times, the Portfolio Manager may emphasize certain sectors or industries that he believes may benefit from market or economic trends.
The Fund will not change its strategy of normally investing at least 80% of its net assets in equity securities of mid-capitalization companies, without providing shareholders at least 60 days’ notice. This test is applied at the time the Fund invests; later percentage changes caused by a change in Fund assets, market values or company circumstances will not require the Fund to dispose of a holding.
PRINCIPAL INVESTMENT RISKS
Most of the Fund’s performance depends on what happens in the stock market, the Portfolio Manager's evaluation of those developments, and the success of the Portfolio Manager in implementing the Fund's investment strategies. The market's behavior can be difficult to predict, particularly in the short term. There can be no guarantee that the Fund will achieve its goal. The Fund may take temporary defensive and cash management positions; to the extent it does, it will not be pursuing its principal investment strategies.
The actual risk exposure taken by the Fund in its investment program will vary over time, depending on various factors including the Portfolio Manager's evaluation of issuer, political, regulatory, market, or economic developments. There can be no guarantee that the Portfolio Manager will be successful in its attempts to manage the risk exposure of the Fund or will appropriately evaluate or weigh the multiple factors involved in investment decisions, including issuer, market and/or instrument-specific analysis and valuation.
The Fund is a mutual fund, not a bank deposit, and is not guaranteed or insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other government agency. The value of your investment may fall, sometimes sharply, and you could lose money by investing in the Fund.
Each of the following risks, which are described in alphabetical order and not in order of any presumed importance, can significantly affect the Fund’s performance. The relative importance of, or potential exposure as a result of, each of these risks will vary based on market and other investment-specific considerations.
Catalyst Risk. Investing in companies in anticipation of a catalyst carries the risk that the catalyst may not happen as anticipated, possibly due to the actions of other market participants, or the market may react to the catalyst differently than expected.
Currency Risk. To the extent that the Fund invests in securities or other instruments denominated in or indexed to foreign currencies, changes in currency exchange rates could adversely impact investment gains or add to investment losses. Currency exchange rates may fluctuate significantly over short periods of time and can be affected unpredictably by intervention, or failure to intervene, by U.S. or foreign governments or central banks or by currency controls or political developments in the U.S. or abroad.
Foreign Risk. Foreign securities involve risks in addition to those associated with comparable U.S. securities. Additional risks include exposure to less developed or less efficient trading markets; social, political, diplomatic, or economic instability; trade barriers and other protectionist trade policies (including those of the U.S.); fluctuations in foreign currencies or currency redenomination; potential for default on sovereign debt; nationalization or expropriation of assets; settlement, custodial or other operational risks; higher transaction costs; confiscatory withholding or other taxes; and less stringent auditing, corporate disclosure, governance, and legal standards. As a result, foreign securities may fluctuate more widely in price, and may also be less liquid, than comparable U.S. securities. World markets, or those in a particular region, may all react in similar fashion to important economic or political developments. In addition, foreign markets may perform differently than the U.S. market. The effect of economic instability on specific foreign markets or issuers may be difficult to predict or evaluate. Regardless of where a company is organized or its stock is traded, its performance may be affected significantly by events in regions from which it derives its profits or in which it conducts significant operations.
Securities of issuers traded on foreign exchanges may be suspended, either by the issuers themselves, by an exchange or by governmental authorities. Trading suspensions may be applied from time to time to the securities of individual issuers for reasons specific to that issuer, or may be applied broadly by exchanges or governmental authorities in response to market events. In the event that the Fund holds material positions in such suspended securities, the Fund’s ability to liquidate its positions or provide liquidity to investors may be compromised and the Fund could incur significant losses.
Issuer-Specific Risk. An individual security may be more volatile, and may perform differently, than the market as a whole.
Market Volatility Risk. Markets may be volatile and values of individual securities and other investments, including those of a particular type, may decline significantly in response to adverse issuer, political, regulatory, market, economic or other developments that may cause broad changes in market value, public perceptions concerning these developments, and adverse investor sentiment or publicity. Geopolitical and other risks, including environmental and public health risks may add to instability in world economies and markets generally. Changes in value may be temporary or may last for extended periods. If the Fund sells a portfolio position before it reaches its market peak, it may miss out on opportunities for better performance.
Mid-Cap Companies Risk. At times, mid-cap companies may be out of favor with investors. Compared to larger companies, mid-cap companies may depend on a more limited management group, may have a shorter history of operations, and may have limited product lines, markets or financial resources. The securities of mid-cap companies are often more volatile and less liquid than the securities of larger companies and may be more affected than other types of securities by the underperformance of a sector or during market downturns.
Private Placements and Other Restricted Securities Risk. Private placements and other restricted securities, including securities for which Fund management has material non-public information, are securities that are subject to legal and/or contractual restrictions on their sales. These securities may not be sold to the public unless certain conditions are met, which may include registration under the applicable securities laws. As a result of the absence of a public trading market, the prices of these securities may be more difficult to determine than publicly traded securities and these securities may involve heightened risk as compared to investments in securities of publicly traded companies. Private placements and other restricted securities may be illiquid, and it frequently can be difficult to sell them at a time when it may otherwise be desirable to do so or the Fund may be able to sell them
only at prices that are less than what the Fund regards as their fair market value. Transaction costs may be higher for these securities. In addition, the Fund may get only limited information about the issuer of a private placement or other restricted security.
Recent Market Conditions. National economies are increasingly interconnected, as are global financial markets, which increases the possibilities that conditions in one country or region might adversely impact issuers in a different country or region. Some countries, including the U.S., have in recent years adopted more protectionist trade policies. The rise in protectionist trade policies, changes to some major international trade agreements and the potential for changes to others, could affect the economies of many nations in ways that cannot necessarily be foreseen at the present time. Equity markets in the U.S. and China have been very sensitive to the outlook for resolving the U.S.-China “trade war,” a trend that may continue in the future.
High public debt in the U.S. and other countries creates ongoing systemic and market risks and policymaking uncertainty, and there may be a further increase in the amount of debt due to the economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and ensuing public health measures. Governments and central banks have moved to limit the potential negative economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic with interventions that are unprecedented in size and scope and may continue to do so, but the ultimate impact of these efforts is uncertain. Governments’ efforts to limit potential negative economic effects of the pandemic may be altered, delayed, or eliminated at inopportune times for political, policy or other reasons. Interest rates have been unusually low in recent years in the U.S. and abroad, and central banks have reduced rates further in an effort to combat the economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Because there is little precedent for this situation, it is difficult to predict the impact on various markets of a significant rate increase or other significant policy changes. Over the longer term, rising interest rates may present a greater risk than has historically been the case due to the current period of relatively low rates and the effect of government fiscal and monetary policy initiatives and potential market reaction to those initiatives or their alteration or cessation.
Funds and their advisers, as well as many of the companies in which they invest, are subject to regulation by the federal government. Over the past several years, the U.S. has moved away from tighter industry regulation, a trend that may change going forward. Increased regulation may impose added costs on the Fund and its service providers for monitoring and compliance, and affect the businesses of various portfolio companies, in ways that cannot necessarily be foreseen at the present time.
The impact of the United Kingdom’s (“UK”) vote to leave the European Union (the “EU”), commonly referred to as “Brexit,” is impossible to know for sure until it is more completely implemented. The effect on the economies of the United Kingdom and the EU will likely depend on the nature of trade relations between the UK and the EU and other major economies following Brexit, which are subject to negotiation and the political processes of the nations involved. Although the UK formally left the EU on January 31, 2020, the parties are continuing to trade under the established rules while a new agreement is negotiated. The UK government has insisted that this agreement must be completed by December 31, 2020, which may be difficult to achieve. Thus, there is still a possibility that the parties will enter 2021 without a trade agreement, which could be disruptive to the economies of both regions.
Climate Change. Economists and others have expressed increasing concern about the potential effects of global climate change on property and security values. A rise in sea levels, an increase in powerful windstorms and/or a climate-driven increase in flooding could cause coastal properties to lose value or become unmarketable altogether. Economists warn that, unlike previous declines in the real estate market, properties in affected coastal zones may not ever recover their value. Large wildfires driven by high winds and prolonged drought may devastate businesses and entire communities and may be very costly to any business found to be responsible for the fire. Regulatory changes tied to concerns about climate change could adversely affect the value of certain land and the viability of certain industries.
These losses could adversely affect corporate issuers and mortgage lenders, the value of mortgage-backed securities, the bonds of municipalities that depend on tax or other revenues and tourist dollars generated by affected properties, and insurers of the property and/or of corporate, municipal or mortgage-backed securities. Since property and security values are driven largely by buyers’ perceptions, it is difficult to know the time period over which these market effects might unfold.
Redemption Risk. The Fund may experience periods of heavy redemptions that could cause the Fund to sell assets at inopportune times or at a loss or depressed value. Redemption risk is greater to the extent that one or more investors or intermediaries control a large percentage of investments in the Fund. In addition, redemption risk is heightened during periods of declining or illiquid markets. Heavy redemptions could hurt the Fund’s performance.
Sector Risk. From time to time, based on market or economic conditions, the Fund may have significant positions in one or more sectors of the market. To the extent the Fund invests more heavily in particular sectors, its performance will be especially
sensitive to developments that significantly affect those sectors. Individual sectors may be more volatile, and may perform differently, than the broader market. The industries that constitute a sector may all react in the same way to economic, political or regulatory events.
Value Stock Risk. Value stocks may remain undervalued or may decrease in value during a given period or may not ever realize what the portfolio management team believes to be their full value or intrinsic value. This may happen, among other reasons, because of a failure to anticipate which stocks or industries would benefit from changing market or economic conditions or investor preferences.
A summary of the Fund’s additional principal investment risks is as follows:
Risk of Increase in Expenses. A decline in the Fund’s average net assets during the current fiscal year due to market volatility or other factors could cause the Fund’s expenses for the current fiscal year to be higher than the expense information presented in “Fees and Expenses.”
Operational and Cybersecurity Risk. The Fund and its service providers, and your ability to transact with the Fund, may be negatively impacted due to operational matters arising from, among other problems, human errors, systems and technology disruptions or failures, or cybersecurity incidents. Cybersecurity incidents may allow an unauthorized party to gain access to fund assets, customer data, or proprietary information, or cause the Fund or its service providers, as well as the securities trading venues and their service providers, to suffer data corruption or lose operational functionality. It is not possible for the Manager or the other Fund service providers to identify all of the cybersecurity or other operational risks that may affect the Fund or to develop processes and controls to completely eliminate or mitigate their occurrence or effects. Most issuers in which the Fund invests are heavily dependent on computers for data storage and operations, and require ready access to the internet to conduct their business. Thus, cybersecurity incidents could also affect issuers of securities in which the Fund invests, leading to significant loss of value.
Risk Management. Risk is an essential part of investing. No risk management program can eliminate the Fund’s exposure to adverse events; at best, it may only reduce the possibility that the Fund will be affected by such events, and especially those risks that are not intrinsic to the Fund’s investment program. The Fund could experience losses if judgments about risk prove to be incorrect.
Valuation Risk. The Fund may not be able to sell an investment at the price at which the Fund has valued the investment. Such differences could be significant, particularly for illiquid securities and securities that trade in relatively thin markets and/or markets that experience extreme volatility. If market or other conditions make it difficult to value some investments, SEC rules and applicable accounting protocols may require the Fund to value these investments using more subjective methods, known as fair value methodologies. Using fair value methodologies to price investments may result in a value that is different from an investment’s most recent price and from the prices used by other mutual funds to calculate their NAVs. The Fund’s ability to value its investments in an accurate and timely manner may be impacted by technological issues and/or errors by third party service providers, such as pricing services or accounting agents.
PERFORMANCE
The following bar chart and table provide an indication of the risks of investing in the Fund. The bar chart shows how the Fund’s performance has varied from year to year. The table below the bar chart shows what the returns would equal if you averaged out actual performance over various lengths of time and compares the returns with the returns of one or more broad-based market indices. The indices, which are described in “Descriptions of Indices” in the prospectus, have characteristics relevant to the Fund's investment strategy.
The following performance prior to March 29, 2019 is that of the Fund’s Investor Class. Because Investor Class has higher expenses than Class R6, its performance typically would have been lower than that of Class R6. Returns would have been lower if Neuberger Berman Investment Advisers LLC had not reimbursed certain expenses and/or waived a portion of the investment management fees during certain of the periods shown.
Past performance (before and after taxes) is not a prediction of future results. Visit www.nb.com or call 800-366-6264 for updated performance information.
year-by-year % Returns as of 12/31 each year
Bar Chart
Best quarter:    Q1 '19, 15.13%
Worst quarter:    Q3 '11, -22.87%
Year-to-date performance as of 9/30/2020: -25.22%
average annual total % returns as of 12/31/19
Mid Cap Intrinsic Value Fund
Average Annual Returns - Class R6 Shares (NBMRX) - Neuberger Berman Mid Cap Intrinsic Value Fund
1 Year
5 Years
10 Years
Class R6 17.53% 4.88% 10.34%
After Taxes on Distributions | Class R6 17.12% 3.40% 9.12%
After Taxes on Distributions and Sale of Fund Shares | Class R6 10.67% 3.55% 8.31%
Russell Midcap® Value Index (reflects no deduction for fees, expenses or taxes) 27.06% 7.62% 12.41%
Russell Midcap® Index (reflects no deduction for fees, expenses or taxes) 30.54% 9.33% 13.19%
After-tax returns are calculated using the historical highest individual federal marginal income tax rates and do not reflect the impact of state and local taxes. Actual after-tax returns depend on an investor’s tax situation and may differ from those shown. After-tax returns are not relevant to investors who hold their Fund shares through tax-deferred arrangements, such as 401(k) plans or individual retirement accounts. Return After Taxes on Distributions and Sale of Fund Shares may be higher than other returns for the same period due to a tax benefit of realizing a capital loss upon the sale of Fund shares.