Under normal circumstances, the Fund will invest at least 80% of its net assets (including any borrowings for investment purposes) in equity securities. Under the general supervision of the Advisor, the Fund invests in a portfolio of approximately 35-45 equity and equity-related securities (common stock, ADRs, and GDRs) of large and midcap companies that the Fund’s sub-advisor, Smith Group Asset Management, LLC (the “Sub-Advisor”), believes offers the best potential for unexpected earnings growth. Under normal circumstances, the Fund will primarily invest its net assets in equity and equity-related securities of companies located in at least ten countries outside the U.S., including in emerging market countries.

The Sub-Advisor believes that companies that can sustainably grow earnings (as more fully described below) faster than expected should outperform over the long run. The Sub-Advisor believes that the most attractive earnings a company can generate are (1) above investor expectations over an extended time period, (2) supported by strong earnings quality (as more fully described below), and (3) not yet recognized by investors and, thus, reasonably valued.

The Sub-Advisor employs quantitative and qualitative analysis to identify high quality, reasonably valued companies that it believes have the ability to exceed investor expectations for earnings growth.

The starting selection universe for the Fund is generally the MSCI All-Country World Index ex-United States. The Sub-Advisor’s investment team uses screens primarily based on earnings growth potential, earnings quality factors, valuation metrics, and liquidity to narrow the candidate universe. The Sub-Advisor’s earnings quality screen is intended to assess the sustainability of a company’s growth (with a goal of identifying companies likely to grow at a faster than expected rate for at least the next two years), which the Sub-Advisor believes will allow for a company to experience an extended period of earnings growth in

excess of market expectations. In assessing a company’s earnings quality, the Sub-Advisor includes an analysis of the company’s financial condition including the relationship of operating cash flow to reported net income; balance sheet accruals, which includes an assessment of the individual components of working capital in addition to select operating asset/liability accounts; asset utilization; and returns on capital.

Stocks that pass the initial screens are then ranked using a proprietary methodology to produce a list of approximately 100 candidates that the Sub-Advisor believes have a high probability of achieving earnings growth above the expectations of analysts of the equity markets. The analysis includes an evaluation of changes in earnings expectations, an evaluation of earnings quality, and an evaluation of the reasonableness of the current valuation.

The Sub-Advisor then performs traditional fundamental analysis of the companies ranked highly by the Sub-Advisor’s proprietary methodology described above to verify the attractiveness of the company, including understanding sources and catalysts for growth, competitive positioning, and financial strength.

The Sub-Advisor uses the bottom-up selection process described above to identify the most attractive candidates for inclusion in the portfolio. The Sub-Adviser seeks to control risk for the Fund by forming a portfolio that generally does not maintain a significant bias (generally defined as plus or minus 10% relative to the Fund’s benchmark, the MSCI All-Country World Index ex-United States) for or against a particular geographic region or economic sector relative to its benchmark. As of June 30, 2023, the benchmark, and, therefore, the Fund is more heavily weighted in the financial, information technology, industrials, and consumer discretionary sectors. The Fund is primarily concerned with selecting outperforming stocks rather than outperforming regions/sectors. In addition to controlling region and sector exposure, the Sub-Advisor also seeks to limit overall market risk for the Fund, by generally remaining within a target range of variance on beta relative to beta for the benchmark. Beta is a measure of a stock’s historical volatility in comparison with that of a market index. Stocks with a beta above 1 tend to be more volatile than their index, while stocks with lower betas tend to be less volatile.

Stocks may be sold if they exhibit negative investment or performance characteristics, including: a deterioration in the company’s potential for unexpected growth, a deterioration in earnings quality, a valuation that is no longer compelling, or a corporate action such as a buyout.