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Class S | Mid Cap Growth Portfolio
Fund Summary
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. These tables do not reflect any fees and expenses charged by your insurance company under your variable contract or by your qualified plan. If the tables did reflect such fees and expenses, the overall expenses would be higher than those shown. Please refer to the prospectus for your variable contract or your qualified plan documentation for information on their separate fees and expenses.
Shareholder Fees (fees paid directly from your investment)
Shareholder Fees
Class S
Mid Cap Growth Portfolio
Class S
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 S
Mid Cap Growth Portfolio
Class S
Management fees 0.84%
Distribution and/or shareholder service (12b-1) fees 0.25%
Other expenses 0.11%
Total annual operating expenses 1.20%
Fee waiver and/or expense reimbursement 0.09%
Total annual operating expenses after fee waiver and/or expense reimbursement 1.11% [1]
[1] Neuberger Berman Investment Advisers LLC ("Manager") has contractually undertaken to waive and/or reimburse certain fees and expenses of Class S so that total annual operating expenses (excluding interest, taxes, transaction costs, brokerage commissions, dividend and interest expenses relating to short sales, acquired fund fees and expenses and extraordinary expenses, if any) ("annual operating expenses") are limited to 1.10% of average net assets. This undertaking lasts until 12/31/2021 and may not be terminated during its term without the consent of the Board of Trustees. The Fund has agreed that Class S will repay the Manager for fees and expenses waived or reimbursed for the class provided that repayment does not cause annual operating expenses to exceed 1.10% 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 $10,000 for the periods shown, that you redeemed all of your shares at the end of those periods, that the Fund earned a hypothetical 5% total return each year, and that the Fund’s expenses were those in the table. Actual performance and expenses may be higher or lower.
Expense Example
1 Year
3 Years
5 Years
10 Years
Class S | Mid Cap Growth Portfolio | Class S | USD ($) 113 353 632 1,429
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. 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 57% 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 common stocks of mid-capitalization companies, which it defines as those with a total market capitalization within the market capitalization range of the Russell Midcap® Index at the time of purchase.

The Fund seeks to reduce risk by diversifying among many companies, sectors and industries.

The Portfolio Manager employs a disciplined investment strategy when selecting growth stocks. Using fundamental research and quantitative analysis, he looks for what he believes to be fast-growing companies with above-average sales and competitive returns on equity relative to their peers. In doing so, the Portfolio Manager analyzes such factors as: financial condition (such as debt to equity ratio); market share and competitive leadership of the company’s products; earnings growth relative to competitors; and market valuation in comparison to a stock’s own historical norms and the stocks of other mid-cap companies.

At times, the Portfolio Manager may emphasize certain sectors that he believes will benefit from market or economic trends.

The Portfolio Manager follows a disciplined selling strategy and may sell a stock when it reaches a target price, if a company’s business fails to perform as expected, or when other opportunities appear more attractive.

The Fund will not change its strategy of normally investing at least 80% of its net assets in 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; in such a case, it will not be pursuing its principal investment strategies.

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.

The following risks, which are described in alphabetical order and not in order of importance or potential exposure, can significantly affect the Fund’s performance:

Foreign Exposure Risk. Securities issued by U.S. entities with substantial foreign operations or holdings, or issued by foreign entities listed on a U.S. exchange may involve additional risks relating to political, economic, or regulatory conditions in foreign countries, as well as currency exchange rates.

Growth Stock Risk. Because the prices of most growth stocks are based on future expectations, these stocks tend to be more sensitive than value stocks to bad economic news and negative earnings surprises. Bad economic news or changing investor perceptions may adversely affect growth stocks across several sectors and industries simultaneously.

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. Geopolitical 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.

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.

Recent Market Conditions. Some countries, including the U.S., are considering or pursuing the adoption of more protectionist trade policies and moving away from the tighter financial industry regulations that followed the 2008 financial crisis. The U.S. is also said to be considering significant new investments in infrastructure and national defense which, coupled with lower federal taxes, could lead to sharply increased government borrowing and higher interest rates. The exact shape of these policies is still being worked out through the political process, but the equity and debt markets may react strongly to expectations, which could increase volatility, especially if the market’s expectations for changes in government policies are not borne out. Also, prices of many U.S. equity securities have increased substantially for the last several years, U.S. unemployment has declined and many market prognosticators reportedly expect the Fed to raise interest rates in an effort to limit inflation and/or believe the market may experience a further “correction” to lower values.

High public debt in the U.S. and other countries creates ongoing systemic and market risks and policymaking uncertainty. Interest rates have been unusually low in recent years in the U.S. and abroad. 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.

In addition, global economies and financial markets are increasingly interconnected, which increases the possibilities that conditions in one country or region might adversely impact issuers in a different country or region. A rise in protectionist trade policies, and the possibility of changes to some international trade agreements, could affect the economies of many nations in ways that cannot necessarily be foreseen at the present time and could negatively affect the economies of even those countries that implement the protectionist policies.

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 heightened during periods of declining or illiquid markets. Heavy redemptions could hurt the Fund’s performance.

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.

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.”

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.

Valuation Risk. The Fund may not be able to sell an investment at the price at which the Fund has valued the investment. 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 next to 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 performance information does not reflect variable contract or qualified plan fees and expenses. If such fees and expenses were reflected, returns would be less than those shown. Please refer to the prospectus for your variable contract or your qualified plan documentation for information on their separate fees and expenses.

Returns would have been lower if the Manager had not reimbursed certain expenses and/or waived a portion of the investment management fees during certain of the periods shown.

Past performance is not a prediction of future results. Visit www.nb.com or call 800-877-9700 for updated performance information.
YEAR-BY-YEAR % RETURNS AS OF 12/31 EACH YEAR
Bar Chart
Best quarter:    Q1 '12, 14.77%

Worst quarter:    Q4 '08, -25.47%
AVERAGE ANNUAL TOTAL % RETURNS AS OF 12/31/17
Mid Cap Growth Portfolio
Average Annual Returns - Class S - Mid Cap Growth Portfolio
1 Year
5 Years
10 Years
Class S 24.56% 13.22% 7.16%
Russell Midcap® Growth Index (reflects no deduction for fees, expenses or taxes) 25.27% 15.30% 9.10%
Russell Midcap® Index (reflects no deduction for fees, expenses or taxes) 18.52% 14.96% 9.11%