Under normal circumstances, the Fund invests at least 80% of its assets in large-cap equity securities. The Fund invests primarily in equity securities of large domestic companies, as defined by the Fund’s benchmark index, the Russell 1000®Value Index, that the Fund’s investment adviser, Teachers Advisors, LLC (“Advisors”), believes appear undervalued by the market based on an evaluation of their potential worth. For purposes of the Fund’s 80% investment policy, “large-cap” securities are securities of issuers with a capitalization equal to or greater than the top 80% of issuers by capitalization within the Russell 1000®Index at the time of purchase. For purposes of the 80% investment policy, the term “assets” means net assets, plus the amount of any borrowings for investment purposes.

Advisors uses a variety of comparative valuation criteria to determine whether shares of a particular company might be undervalued, including analyses of historical valuations of the same security; valuations of comparable securities in the same sector or the overall market; various financial ratios such as stock price-to-book value, stock price-to-earnings, and dividend yield; and free cash flow generated by the company. Advisors generally focuses on companies with normalized earnings and high operating leverage, which may cause the Fund to be more volatile in down markets than other large-cap value funds that have more defensive investment strategies.

The Fund may invest up to 20% of its assets in foreign investments. The Fund may also purchase and sell futures, options, swaps and other equity derivatives to carry out the Fund’s investment strategies.