Under normal circumstances, the Fund invests at least 80% of its net assets (plus any borrowings for investment purposes) in equity securities of small capitalization companies. Equity securities include domestic common and preferred stock, American Depositary Receipts (“ADRs”), securities of real estate investment trusts (“REITs”) and shares of investment companies, including exchange-traded funds (“ETFs”) designed to track small capitalization indices. The Fund’s advisor, Kennedy Capital Management LLC (the “Advisor”), defines small capitalization companies as those with market capitalizations within the range of companies included in the Russell 2000® Growth Index (the “Index”) at the time of purchase. The capitalization range of companies in the Index may change with market conditions or due to changes in the composition of the Index. As of March 31, 2024, the market capitalization range of the Index was between $12.2 million and $56.5 billion. Investments in companies that move above or below the capitalization range of the Index may continue to be held by the Fund in the Advisor’s sole discretion. The market capitalization of a security is measured at the time of purchase.

In seeking to achieve the Fund’s investment objective, the Advisor’s investment approach begins with fundamental, bottom-up research to evaluate investment opportunities, focusing on companies that it believes have superior management and which have business models with a high potential for earnings. The Advisor believes superior risk adjusted performance can be achieved by investing in a diversified portfolio of companies that (i) have durable business models, (ii) are able to deploy assets into a growing set of opportunities, and (iii) achieve superior rates of return on those investments. This investment philosophy is rooted in the understanding that value is created when a business can continue to generate attractive returns on its existing capital and have the opportunity to reinvest capital in the future at equal or greater returns. Each company under consideration for investment is primarily classified by the Advisor in one of the following three stages of the growth life cycle: Early Growth, Steady Compounder, or Material Positive Change. Companies classified as Early Growth are companies that have rapid asset growth, margins not yet to scale, improving returns on invested capital (“ROIC”) or cash flow return on investment (“CFROI®”) and low penetration in the end market. Companies classified as Steady Compounder are established companies that are able to sustain evaluated levels of asset growth, have consistently high or expanding returns on invested capital and have high barriers to entry. Companies classified as Material Positive Change demonstrate structural change (e.g., management divesting an underperforming business segment) that improves asset growth and/or ROIC/CFROI®, have a growth profile post-change and can be found anywhere along the growth life cycle. The Fund invests across the full spectrum of growth but may also invest in companies that the Advisor considers to be undervalued. The Advisor utilizes a company’s ROIC as a central component of its analysis to determine the intrinsic value of companies included in the Fund’s portfolio.

The Advisor may sell all or a portion of a position of the Fund’s portfolio holdings when, in its opinion, one or more of the following occurs, among other reasons: (i) there is a change in the Advisor’s analysis on a particular issuer; (ii) there is a change in the Advisor’s classification of the issuer; (iii) the issuer’s fundamentals deteriorate; (iv) the Advisor identifies more attractive investment opportunities for the Fund; (v) the issuer’s market capitalization consistently exceeds the capitalization range of the Index; or (vi) the Fund requires cash to meet redemption requests.