To pursue its goal, the fund normally invests substantially all of its assets in stocks. The fund normally invests at least 80% of its net assets, plus any borrowings for investment purposes, in companies considered by the fund's sub-adviser, NIMNA (sub-adviser), to be "value" companies. The sub-adviser considers a "value" company to be a company included in at least one of the Russell 3000® Value Index, the S&P Composite 1500 Value Index, or the MSCI ACWI Value Index, or a company that has a price-to-book ratio that is lower than that of the S&P 500 Index.

The fund's sub-adviser identifies potential investments through extensive quantitative and fundamental research. The fund focuses on individual stock selection (a "bottom-up" approach), emphasizing three key factors:

•intrinsic value: the sub-adviser analyzes a company’s traditional measures, such as price-to-earnings ratio, price-to-book ratio, price-to-sales ratio, and cash flows, to determine if the company is priced below its intrinsic value;

•sound business fundamentals: the sub-adviser analyzes a company's balance sheet, income, and cash flow data to determine the company's financial history and current status; and

•positive business momentum: the sub-adviser analyzes momentum factors, including, but not limited to, improving earnings expectations (e.g., company earnings being revised higher), company cash flow generation that is positive and growing, and growth in both sales and earnings, and momentum catalysts (which will usually be unique to the investment opportunity and can be company-specific (e.g., a change in company management, a business combination/divestiture, a new product launch) or industry-wide (e.g., regulatory changes)), to determine whether a company’s business momentum is expected to be short-term in nature and already reflected in the company’s stock price, or expected to lead to longer-term stock price appreciation.

The fund invests principally in common stocks. The fund may invest in stocks of companies with any market capitalization, but focuses on stocks of large-capitalization companies (companies that, at the time of purchase, have market capitalizations of $5 billion or more). The fund may invest up to 30% of its net assets in foreign securities (i.e., securities issued by companies organized under the laws of countries other than the United States). The fund may, from time to time, invest a significant portion (more than 20%) of its net assets in securities of companies in one or more sectors. As of December 31, 2025, the fund invests a significant portion of its assets in securities of companies in the financials sector.

The fund typically sells a stock when the fund's sub-adviser believes there is a more attractive alternative, the stock's valuation is excessive or there are deteriorating fundamentals, such as a loss of competitive advantage, a failure in management execution or deteriorating capital structure.

At times, the fund may engage in active and frequent trading, which will increase portfolio turnover.