497K 1 c102470_497k.htm Untitled Document

Lazard Funds                                               October 29, 2021
Summary Prospectus

Before you invest, you may want to review the Portfolio’s Prospectus, which contains more information about the Portfolio and its risks. The Portfolio’s Prospectus and Statement of Additional Information (“SAI”), both dated October 29, 2021 (as revised or supplemented), are incorporated by reference into this Summary Prospectus. You can find the Portfolio’s Prospectus, SAI and other information about the Portfolio online at https://www.lazardassetmanagement.com/us/en_us/funds/list/mutual-funds/42. You can also get this information at no cost by calling (800) 823-6300 or by sending an e-mail request to Contact.US@Lazard.com.

      

Lazard US Systematic Small Cap Equity Portfolio

Institutional Shares

 

Open Shares

 

R6 Shares

LUSIX

 

LUSOX

 

RUSRX

Investment Objective

The Portfolio seeks long-term capital appreciation.

Fees and Expenses

This table describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy and hold shares of the Portfolio, a series of The Lazard Funds, Inc. (the “Fund”). You may pay other fees, such as brokerage commissions and other fees to financial intermediaries, which are not reflected in the table and the Example below.

      
 

Institutional

Shares

 

Open

Shares

 

R6

Shares

Annual Portfolio Operating Expenses (expenses that you pay each year as a
percentage of the value of your investment)

     

Management Fees

.70%

 

.70%

 

.70%

Distribution and Service (12b-1) Fees

None

 

.25%

 

None

Other Expenses*

.25%

 

.25%

 

.25%

Total Annual Portfolio Operating Expenses

.95%

 

1.20%

 

.95%

Fee Waiver and/or Expense Reimbursement**

.05%

 

.05%

 

.10%

Total Annual Portfolio Operating Expenses After Fee Waiver and/or Expense Reimbursement

.90%

 

1.15%

 

.85%

* Based on estimated amounts for the current fiscal year.

** Reflects a contractual agreement by Lazard Asset Management LLC (the “Investment Manager”) to waive its fee and, if necessary, reimburse the Portfolio until October 29, 2023, to the extent Total Annual Portfolio Operating Expenses exceed .90%, 1.15% and .85% of the average daily net assets of the Portfolio’s Institutional Shares, Open Shares and R6 Shares, respectively, exclusive of taxes, brokerage, interest on borrowings, fees and expenses of “Acquired Funds,” fees and expenses related to filing foreign tax reclaims and extraordinary expenses. This expense limitation agreement can only be amended by agreement of the Fund, upon approval by the Fund’s Board of Directors, and the Investment Manager to lower the net amount shown and will terminate automatically in the event of termination of the Management Agreement between the Investment Manager and the Fund, on behalf of the Portfolio.

Example

This Example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the Portfolio with the cost of investing in other mutual funds.

The Example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Portfolio for the time periods indicated and then hold or redeem all of your shares at the end of those periods. The Example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Portfolio’s operating expenses remain the same, giving effect to the expense limitation arrangement described above. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:


       
 

1 Year

3 Years

Institutional Shares

$

92

 

$

298

 

Open Shares

$

117

 

$

376

 

R6 Shares

$

87

 

$

293

 

Portfolio Turnover

The Portfolio 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 Portfolio shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in annual portfolio operating expenses or in the Example, affect the Portfolio’s performance. Because the Portfolio had not commenced investment operations prior to the date of this Prospectus, no portfolio turnover information is presented.

Principal Investment Strategies

The Portfolio invests primarily in equity securities, principally common stocks, of small capitalization US companies. The Investment Manager considers “small cap companies” to be those companies that, at the time of initial purchase by the Portfolio, have market capitalizations within the range of companies included in the Russell 2000 Index (ranging from approximately $41.7 million to $19.6 billion as of September 30, 2021). The Portfolio typically invests in 300 to 500 companies.

Under normal circumstances, the Portfolio invests at least 80% of its assets in equity securities of small cap US companies. Equity securities also may include depositary receipts, including American Depositary Receipts (“ADRs”), Global Depositary Receipts and European Depositary Receipts. The Portfolio may invest up to 20% of its assets in other securities which need not be equity securities of small cap US companies, including investments in larger US companies and in non-US companies, including securities of emerging markets companies traded on a US exchange.

The Investment Manager will manage the Portfolio using its proprietary investment strategy that creates and applies what the Investment Manager refers to as “Insights” and employs its “Insight-driven” process to identify investments with fundamental traits the Investment Manager believes are undervalued by the market. The Investment Manager’s strategy combines fundamental and quantitative techniques into a fully systematic process—that is, the Investment Manager converts subjective criteria used to evaluate potential investments into quantitative formulas based on, among other things, market observations and testing of resulting hypotheses. The Investment Manager considers an “Insight” to be a fundamental opportunity that the Investment Manager believes can be quantified, validated and implemented systematically by the Investment Manager:

· a fundamental opportunity is a recurring market inefficiency where the Investment Manager believes that investors are not fully incorporating the impact of a company’s changing operating fundamentals and/or attractive valuations;

· the Investment Manager converts its market observation into quantified conditions utilizing proprietary process knowledge and techniques;

· a potential Insight is validated through extensive proprietary testing that includes historical data, minimum targeted return objectives and persistence hurdles;

· through each Insight, a number of securities are identified; and

· the securities selection process is implemented systematically into automated daily operations.

The Investment Manager selects investments for the Portfolio by applying its securities selection process to an investable universe of all publicly-traded equity securities, with a focus on small cap companies. However, Insights, which may change over time, may be related to the broad market or specific to a particular sector or industry. In addition, the selection process described above is not sequential, and certain criteria may be given more importance than others. Target position sizes are determined at the time of investment based on one or more Insights and subsequently monitored on an ongoing basis. To improve tax efficiency, the Portfolio may

Summary Prospectus

2


limit investments that have undesirable tax characteristics and may employ other tax-management techniques, such as adjusting the timing of trades, by relying in part on fundamental research and analytical judgements of the Investment Manager.

Principal Investment Risks

The value of your investment in the Portfolio will fluctuate, which means you could lose money.

Market Risk. The Portfolio may incur losses due to declines in one or more markets in which it invests. These declines may be the result of, among other things, political, regulatory, market, economic or social developments affecting the relevant market(s). To the extent that such developments impact specific industries, market sectors, countries or geographic regions, the Portfolio’s investments in such industries, market sectors, countries and/or geographic regions can be expected to be particularly affected, especially if such investments are a significant portion of its investment portfolio. In addition, turbulence in financial markets and reduced liquidity in equity, credit and/or fixed income markets may negatively affect many issuers, which could adversely affect the Portfolio. Global economies and financial markets are increasingly interconnected, and conditions and events in one country, region or financial market may adversely impact issuers worldwide. As a result, local, regional or global events such as war, acts of terrorism, the spread of infectious illness or other public health issues, recessions or other events could have a significant negative impact on global economic and market conditions. The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) global pandemic and the aggressive responses taken by many governments or voluntarily imposed by private parties, including closing borders, restricting travel and imposing prolonged quarantines or similar restrictions, as well as the closure of, or operational changes to, many retail and other businesses, has had negative impacts, and in many cases severe negative impacts, on markets worldwide. It is not known how long such impacts, or any future impacts of other significant events described above, will or would last, but there could be a prolonged period of global economic slowdown, which may be expected to impact the Portfolio and its investments.

Issuer Risk. The value of a security may decline for a number of reasons which directly relate to the issuer, such as management performance, financial leverage and reduced demand for the issuer’s goods or services, as well as the historical and prospective earnings of the issuer and the value of its assets or factors unrelated to the issuer’s value, such as investor perception.

Small Cap Companies Risk. Small cap companies carry additional risks because their earnings tend to be less predictable, their share prices more volatile and their securities less liquid than larger, more established companies. The shares of small cap companies tend to trade less frequently than those of larger companies, which can have an adverse effect on the pricing of these securities and on the ability to sell these securities when the Investment Manager deems it appropriate.

Quantitative Model Risk. The success of the Portfolio’s investment strategy depends largely upon the effectiveness of the Investment Manager’s quantitative model. A quantitative model, such as the risk and other models used by the Investment Manager requires adherence to a systematic, disciplined process. The Investment Manager’s ability to monitor and, if necessary, adjust its quantitative model could be adversely affected by various factors including incorrect or outdated market and other data inputs. Factors that affect a security’s value can change over time, and these changes may not be reflected in the quantitative model. In addition, factors used in quantitative analysis and the weight placed on those factors may not be predictive of a security’s value.

Depositary Receipts Risk. ADRs and similar depositary receipts typically will be subject to certain of the risks associated with direct investments in the securities of non-US companies, because their values depend on the performance of the underlying non-US securities. However, currency fluctuations will impact investments in depositary receipts differently than direct investments in non-US dollar-denominated non-US securities, because a depositary receipt will not appreciate in value solely as a result of appreciation in the currency in which the underlying non-US dollar security is denominated.

Summary Prospectus

3


Non-US Securities Risk. The Portfolio’s performance will be influenced by political, social and economic factors affecting the non-US countries and companies in which the Portfolio invests. Non-US securities carry special risks, such as less developed or less efficient trading markets, political instability, a lack of company information, differing auditing and legal standards, and, potentially, less liquidity. In addition, investments denominated in currencies other than US dollars may experience a decline in value, in US dollar terms, due solely to fluctuations in currency exchange rates. Emerging market countries can generally have economic structures that are less diverse and mature, and political systems that are less stable, than those of developed countries.

High Portfolio Turnover Risk. The Portfolio’s investment strategy may involve high portfolio turnover (such as 100% or more). A portfolio turnover rate of 100%, for example, is equivalent to the Portfolio buying and selling all of its securities once during the course of the year. A high portfolio turnover rate could result in high transaction costs and an increase in taxable capital gains distributions to the Portfolio’s shareholders, which will reduce returns to shareholders.

Securities Selection Risk. Securities and other investments selected by the Investment Manager for the Portfolio may not perform to expectations. This could result in the Portfolio’s underperformance compared to other funds with similar investment objectives or strategies.

Performance Bar Chart and Table

Because the Portfolio had not commenced investment operations prior to the date of this Prospectus, no performance returns are presented. Annual performance returns provide some indication of the risks of investing in the Portfolio by showing changes in performance from year to year. Comparison of Portfolio performance to an appropriate index indicates how the Portfolio’s average annual returns compare with those of a broad measure of market performance. After the Portfolio commences investment operations, performance information will be available at www.lazardassetmanagement.com or by calling (800) 823-6300. The Portfolio’s past performance (before and after taxes) is not necessarily an indication of how the Portfolio will perform in the future.

Management

Investment Manager

Lazard Asset Management LLC

Portfolio Managers/Analysts

Oren Shiran, portfolio manager/analyst on the Investment Manager’s US Systematic Equity team, has been with the Portfolio since October 2021.

Stefan T. Tang, portfolio manager/analyst on the Investment Manager’s US Systematic Equity team, has been with the Portfolio since October 2021.

Summary Prospectus

4


Purchase and Sale of Portfolio Shares

The initial investment minimums are:

   

Institutional Shares*

$

10,000

Open Shares*

$

2,500

R6 Shares

$

1,000,000

* Unless the investor is a client of a securities dealer or other institution which has made an aggregate minimum initial purchase for its clients of at least $10,000 for Institutional Shares or $2,500 for Open Shares.

 There is no minimum investment amount for Board members and other individuals considered to be affiliates of the Fund or the Investment Manager and their family members, discretionary accounts with the Investment Manager, affiliated and non-affiliated registered investment companies and, for R6 Shares only, certain types of employee benefit plans.

The subsequent investment minimum is $50 for Institutional Shares and Open Shares. There is no subsequent investment minimum for R6 Shares.

Open Shares investors investing directly with the Portfolio who meet the Institutional Shares minimum may request that their Open Shares be converted to Institutional Shares. Investors investing through a securities dealer or other institution should consult that firm regarding share class availability and applicable minimums.

Portfolio shares are redeemable through the Fund’s transfer agent, DST Asset Manager Solutions, Inc., on any business day by telephone, mail or overnight delivery. Clients of financial intermediaries may be subject to the intermediaries’ procedures.

Tax Information

All dividends and short-term capital gains distributions are generally taxable to you as ordinary income, and long-term capital gains are generally taxable as such, whether you receive the distribution in cash or reinvest it in additional shares.

Financial Intermediary Compensation (Open and Institutional Shares only)
Payments to Broker-Dealers and Other Financial Intermediaries

If you purchase shares of the Portfolio through a broker-dealer or other financial intermediary (such as a bank), the Portfolio and/or the Investment Manager and its affiliates may pay the intermediary for the sale of Portfolio shares and related services. These payments may create a conflict of interest by influencing the broker-dealer or other intermediary and your salesperson to recommend the Portfolio over another investment. Ask your salesperson or visit your financial intermediary’s website for more information.

  

00084127

 

Lazard Asset Management LLC • 30 Rockefeller Plaza • New York, NY 10112 • www.lazardassetmanagement.com