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Fund Goal and Approach
The fund seeks to maximize total return, consisting of capital appreciation and current income.
To pursue this goal, the fund normally invests at least 80% of its assets in securities issued or guaranteed by the U.S. government or its agencies or instrumentalities, and in repurchase agreements collateralized by such securities. The fund may invest up to 35% of its assets in mortgage-related securities issued by U.S. government agencies or instrumentalities, such as mortgage pass-through securities issued by the Government National Mortgage Association, the Federal National Mortgage Association and the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation, and collateralized mortgage obligations (CMOs), including stripped mortgage-backed securities. These instruments include those backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. government and those that are neither insured nor guaranteed by the U.S. government.
Typically, in choosing securities, the portfolio manager first examines U.S. and global economic conditions and other market factors in order to estimate long- and short-term interest rates. Using a research-driven investment process, generally, the portfolio manager then seeks to identify potentially profitable issues before they are widely perceived by the market, and seeks underpriced or mispriced securities that appear likely to perform well over time.
The fund generally maintains an effective duration of approximately three years or less. Duration is an indication of how sensitive a bond or mutual fund portfolio may be to changes in interest rates. Generally, the longer a bond's duration, the more likely it is to react to interest rate fluctuations and the greater its long-term risk/return potential.
The fund may, but is not required to, use derivatives, such as futures and options (including those relating to securities, indexes and interest rates), swaps (including credit default swaps on corporate bonds and asset-backed securities), options on swaps and other credit derivatives, as a substitute for investing directly in an underlying asset, to manage interest rate risk or the duration of the fund's portfolio, to increase returns, or as part of a hedging strategy. The fund may enter into swap agreements, such as interest rate swaps and credit default swaps, which can be used to transfer the credit risk of a security without actually transferring ownership of the security or to customize exposure to particular corporate credit. To enhance current income, the fund may engage in a series of purchase and sale contracts or forward roll transactions in which the fund sells a mortgage-related security, for example, to a financial institution and simultaneously agrees to purchase a similar security from the institution at a later date at an agreed-upon price. The fund also may make forward commitments in which the fund agrees to buy or sell a security in the future at a price agreed upon today. The fund also may engage in short-selling, typically for hedging purposes, such as to limit exposure to a possible market decline in the value of its portfolio securities.
Main Risks
The fund's principal risks are discussed below. An investment in the fund is not a bank deposit. It is not insured or guaranteed by the FDIC or any other government agency. It is not a complete investment program. The value of your investment in the fund will fluctuate, sometimes dramatically, which means you could lose money.
*Government securities risk. Not all obligations of the U.S. government, its agencies and instrumentalities are backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. Treasury. Some obligations are backed only by the credit of the issuing agency or instrumentality, and in some cases there may be some risk of default by the issuer. Any guarantee by the U.S. government or its agencies or instrumentalities of a security held by the fund does not apply to the market value of such security or to shares of the fund itself. In addition, because many types of U.S. government securities trade actively outside the United States, their prices may rise and fall as changes in global economic conditions affect the demand for these securities.
*Interest rate risk. Prices of bonds tend to move inversely with changes in interest rates. Typically, a rise in rates will adversely affect bond prices and, accordingly, the fund's share price. The longer the effective maturity and duration of the fund's portfolio, the more the fund's share price is likely to react to interest rates.
*Call risk. Some bonds give the issuer the option to call, or redeem, the bonds before their maturity date. If an issuer "calls" its bond during a time of declining interest rates, the fund might have to reinvest the proceeds in an investment offering a lower yield, and therefore might not benefit from any increase in value as a result of declining interest rates. During periods of market illiquidity or rising interest rates, prices of "callable" issues are subject to increased price fluctuation.
*Credit risk. Failure of an issuer to make timely interest or principal payments, or a decline or perception of a decline in the credit quality of a bond, can cause a bond's price to fall, potentially lowering the fund's share price.
*Liquidity risk. When there is little or no active trading market for specific types of securities, it can become more difficult to sell the securities at or near their perceived value. In such a market, the value of such securities and the fund's share price may fall dramatically, even during periods of declining interest rates. Liquidity risk also exists when a particular derivative instrument is difficult to purchase or sell. If a derivative transaction is particularly large or if the relevant market is illiquid (as is the case with many privately negotiated derivatives, including swap agreements), it may not be possible to initiate a transaction or liquidate a position at an advantageous time or price.
*Prepayment and extension risk. When interest rates fall, the principal on mortgage-backed and certain asset-backed securities may be prepaid. The loss of higher yielding underlying mortgages and the reinvestment of proceeds at lower interest rates can reduce the fund's potential price gain in response to falling interest rates, reduce the fund's yield, or cause the fund's share price to fall. When interest rates rise, the effective duration of the fund's mortgage-related and other asset-backed securities may lengthen due to a drop in prepayments of the underlying mortgages or other assets. This is known as extension risk and would increase the fund's sensitivity to rising interest rates and its potential for price declines.
*Derivatives risk. A small investment in derivatives could have a potentially large impact on the fund's performance. The use of derivatives involves risks different from, or possibly greater than, the risks associated with investing directly in the underlying assets. Derivatives can be highly volatile, illiquid and difficult to value, and there is the risk that changes in the value of a derivative held by the fund will not correlate with the underlying instruments or the fund's other investments. Derivative instruments also involve the risk that a loss may be sustained as a result of the failure of the counterparty to the derivative instruments to make required payments or otherwise comply with the derivative instruments' terms. Certain types of derivatives involve greater risks than the underlying obligations because, in addition to general market risks, they are subject to illiquidity risk, counterparty risk and credit risk. Additionally, some derivatives involve economic leverage, which could increase the volatility of these investments as they may fluctuate in value more than the underlying instrument.
*Short sale risk. The fund may make short sales, which involves selling a security it does not own in anticipation that the security's price will decline. Short sales expose the fund to the risk that it will be required to buy the security sold short (also known as "covering" the short position) at a time when the security has appreciated in value, thus resulting in a loss to the fund.
*Leverage risk. The use of leverage, such as engaging in reverse repurchase agreements, lending portfolio securities, entering into futures contracts and engaging in forward commitment transactions, may magnify the fund's gains or losses.
*Other potential risks. The fund may lend its portfolio securities to brokers, dealers and other financial institutions. In connection with such loans, the fund will receive collateral from the borrower equal to at least 100% of the value of loaned securities. If the borrower of the securities fails financially, there could be delays in recovering the loaned securities or exercising rights to the collateral.
Under adverse market conditions, the fund could invest some or all of its assets in U.S. Treasury securities and money market securities. Although the fund would do this for temporary defensive purposes, it could reduce the benefit from any upswing in the market. During such periods, the fund may not achieve its investment objective.
The fund may engage in short-term trading, which could produce higher transaction costs and taxable distributions, and lower the fund's after-tax performance. The fund's forward roll transactions will increase its portfolio turnover rate.
The fund also is subject to the risk that a counterparty in a repurchase agreement could fail to honor the terms of its agreement.
Portfolio Manager
Jr.,Theodore Bair has been manager since 2/11/2010.
Theodore Bair, Jr., CFA
Ted is a Senior Portfolio Manager for Short Duration Strategies, responsible for portfolio management for short term bond fund and enhanced short duration clients. In addition, his previous responsibilities have included the development and management of overlay solutions strategies, as well as short term liquidity management strategies. He joined the company in 1995 as a performance measurement analyst. Ted has a M.B.A from the University of Pittsburgh and a B.A. from Westminter College. He is an active member of the CFA Society of Pittsburgh.
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