11/18/2024 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 11/18/2024 16:09
First Eagle U.S. Smid Cap Opportunity Fund |
March 1, 2024 |
Summary Prospectus
Class A |
FEMAX |
|
Class I |
FESMX |
|
Class R6 |
FEXRX |
Investment Objective
First Eagle U.S. Smid Cap Opportunity Fund ("Smid Cap Fund" or the "Fund") seeks long-term growth of capital.
Fees and Expenses of the Smid Cap Fund
The following information describes the fees and expenses you may pay if you buy, hold and sell shares of the Smid Cap Fund. You may pay other fees, such as brokerage commissions and other fees to financial intermediaries, which are not reflected in the tables and examples below.
You may qualify for sales charge discounts if you, together with certain related accounts, invest, or agree to invest in the future, at least $25,000 in the Smid Cap Fund. Information about these and other discounts is available from your financial professional and in the How to Purchase Shares and Public Offering Price of Class A Shares sections of the Fund's Prospectus on pages 192 and 199, respectively, and in the appendix to the Prospectus titled Intermediary-Specific Front-End Sales Load and Waiver Terms.
Class A |
Class I |
Class R6 |
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Shareholder Fees (fees paid directly from your investment) |
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Maximum Sales Charge (Load) on Purchases (as a percentage of public offering price) |
5.00 |
None |
None |
||||||||||||
Maximum Deferred Sales Charge (Load) (as a percentage of the lesser of your purchase or redemption price) |
1.00* |
None |
None |
||||||||||||
Annual Fund Operating Expenses (expenses you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment) |
|||||||||||||||
Management Fees** |
0.75 |
0.75 |
0.75 |
||||||||||||
Distribution and/or Service (12b-1) Fees |
0.25 |
None |
None |
||||||||||||
Other Expenses*** |
6.08 |
2.21 |
8.21 |
||||||||||||
Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses*** |
0.01 |
0.01 |
0.01 |
||||||||||||
Total Annual Operating Expenses (%) |
7.09 |
2.97 |
8.97 |
||||||||||||
Fee Waiver and/or Expense Reimbursement** |
-5.88 |
-2.01 |
-8.01 |
||||||||||||
Total Annual Operating Expenses After Fee Waiver and/or Expense Reimbursement (%) |
1.21 |
0.96 |
0.96 |
* |
A contingent deferred sales charge of 1.00% may apply on certain redemptions of Class A shares made within 18 months following a purchase of $1,000,000 or more without an initial sales charge. |
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** |
First Eagle Investment Management, LLC (the "Adviser") has contractually agreed to waive and/or reimburse certain fees and expenses of Classes A, I and R6 so that the total annual operating expenses (excluding interest charges on any borrowings, taxes, brokerage commissions and other expenses incurred in placing orders for the purchase and sale of securities and other investment instruments, acquired fund fees and expenses, dividend and other expenses relating to short sales, and extraordinary expenses, if any) ("annual operating expenses") of each class are limited to 1.20%, 0.95% and 0.95% of average net assets, respectively. Each of these undertakings lasts until February 28, 2025 and may not be terminated during its term without the consent of the Board of Trustees. The Fund has agreed that each of Classes A, I and R6 will repay the Adviser for fees and expenses waived or reimbursed for the class provided that repayment does not cause annual operating expenses (after the repayment is taken into account) to exceed the lesser of: (1) 1.20%, 0.95% and 0.95% of the class' average net assets, respectively; or (2) if applicable, the then-current expense limitations. Any such repayment must be made within three years after the year in which the Adviser incurred the expense. |
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*** |
"Other Expenses" and Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses ("AFFE") are based on an estimate for the current fiscal year; actual expenses may vary. AFFE are fees and expenses incurred by the Fund in connection with its investments in other investment companies. Total Annual Operating Expenses shown will not correlate to the Fund's ratio of expenses to average net assets appearing in the Financial Highlights table, which does not include AFFE. |
Before you invest, you may want to review the Fund's Prospectus, which contains more information about the Fund and its risks. The Fund's Prospectus and Statement of Additional Information, dated March 1, 2024, as may be amended and supplemented, are incorporated by reference into this Summary Prospectus. You can find the Fund's Prospectus, reports to shareholders, and other information about the Fund online at https://www.firsteagle.com/us-smid-cap-opportunity-fund. You can also get this information at no additional cost by calling 800.334.2143 or by sending an e-mail request to [email protected].
First Eagle U.S. Smid Cap Opportunity Fund
Example
The following example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the Smid Cap Fund with the cost of investing in other mutual funds. This hypothetical example assumes you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then either redeem or do not redeem all shares at the end of those periods. The example also assumes the average annual return is 5% and operating expenses remain the same (except that the fee waiver is taken into account only for the one-year expense example). Please keep in mind your actual costs may be higher or lower.
Share Status |
1 Year |
3 Years |
5 Years |
10 Years |
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Class A |
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Sold or Held |
$617 |
$1,986 |
$3,299 |
$6,347 |
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Class I |
||||||||||||||||||||
Sold or Held |
$98 |
$729 |
$1,385 |
$3,146 |
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Class R6 |
||||||||||||||||||||
Sold or Held |
$98 |
$1,891 |
$3,545 |
$7,137 |
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Portfolio Turnover Rate
The Smid Cap Fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or "turns over" its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs and may result in higher taxes when Fund shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in Annual Fund Operating Expenses or in the Example above, affect the Fund's performance. During the most recent fiscal year, the Smid Cap Fund's portfolio turnover rate was 30.48% of the average value of its portfolio.
Principal Investment Strategies
The Fund invests, under normal circumstances, in equity securities of small- and mid-cap ("smid cap") companies in an attempt to take advantage of what the Adviser believes are opportunistic situations for undervalued securities. Normally, the Fund invests at least 80% of its net assets (plus any borrowings for investment purposes) in the equity securities (e.g., common stocks, warrants, rights and preferred stocks) of U.S. smid cap companies. The Adviser defines smid cap companies as those that have at the time of investment a market capitalization not greater than that of the largest company in the Russell 2500TM Index. The Russell 2500TM Index is reconstituted annually. As of December 31, 2023, the market capitalization range of the companies included within the Russell 2500TM Index was between $22.3 billion and $17 million.
Potential investments that the Adviser considers to be opportunistic may include situations involving company turnarounds (e.g., a company that may be experiencing periods of poor financial or stock performance but may be exhibiting potential for financial recovery), emerging growth companies with interrupted earnings patterns (e.g., companies without a long or consistent history of earnings but that the Adviser believes have the potential for earnings growth), companies with unrecognized asset values, or undervalued growth companies (e.g., companies that have low multiples of price-to book or price-to sales ratios, or companies with securities that are trading at a price below what the Adviser believes the security is worth). The Adviser also considers investments in companies that have the potential to benefit from a perceived catalyst for positive change, such as companies with new management, a more favorable business cycle, product innovation and/or margin improvement. In certain market environments, the Fund may invest up to 10% of its net assets (plus any borrowings for investment purposes and measured at the time of investment) in foreign investments (including American Depositary Receipts ("ADRs"), Global Depositary Receipts ("GDRs") and European Depositary Receipts ("EDRs")). The Fund may invest in other investment companies (e.g., exchange-traded funds) that invest in equity securities.
The Fund may sell securities to, among other things, secure gains, limit losses, redeploy assets into what the Adviser deems to be more promising opportunities, and/or manage cash levels in the Fund's portfolio. In managing the Fund's assets, the Adviser uses various methods of analysis primarily rooted in drawing a view on the valuation of each security and a related evaluation of each company. In selecting securities for the Fund, the Adviser generally evaluates the quality of a company's balance sheet and other measures of a company's financial condition and profitability, such as the history and/or potential for improvement in cash flow generation, internal rates of return, and sustainable earnings. The Adviser generally seeks to invest in equity securities of companies that are trading below the Adviser's estimate of the company's current worth in an attempt to reduce the risk of overpaying for such securities.
For more information about the Smid Cap Fund's principal investment strategies, please see the More Information about the Funds' Investments section of the Fund's Prospectus.
Principal Investment Risks
As with any mutual fund investment, you may lose money by investing in the Smid Cap Fund. The likelihood of loss may be greater if you invest for a shorter period of time. An investment in the Fund is not intended to be a complete investment program.
Principal risks of investing in the Smid Cap Fund, which could adversely affect its net asset value and total return, are:
• |
Market Risk - The value and liquidity of the Fund's portfolio holdings may fluctuate in response to events specific to the issuers or markets in which the Fund invests, as well as economic, political, or social events in the United States or abroad. Markets may be volatile, and prices of individual securities and other investments, including those of a particular type, may decline significantly and rapidly in response to adverse issuer, political, regulatory, market, economic or other developments, public perceptions concerning these developments, and adverse investor sentiment or publicity. Recent market conditions and events, including a global public health crisis, wars and armed conflicts and actions taken by governments in response, may exacerbate volatility. Rapid changes in prices or liquidity, which often are not anticipated and can relate to events not connected to particular investments, may limit the ability of the Fund to dispose of its assets at the price or time of its choosing and can result in losses. Changes in prices may be temporary or may last for extended periods. |
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• |
Small and Medium-Size Company Risk - The Fund will invest in small and medium-size companies, the securities of which can be more volatile in price than those of larger companies. Positions in smaller companies, especially when the Fund is a large holder of a small company's securities, also may be more difficult or expensive to trade. The Fund considers small and medium-size companies to be companies with market capitalizations that have at the time of investment a market capitalization not greater than that of the largest company in the Russell 2500TM Index. |
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• |
Equity Risk - The value of the Fund's portfolio holdings may fluctuate in response to the risk that the prices of equity securities, including common stock, rise and fall daily. These price movements may result from factors affecting individual companies, industries or the securities market as a whole. In addition, equity markets tend to move in cycles, which may cause stock prices to fall over short or extended periods of time. Equity securities generally have greater price volatility than debt securities. |
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• |
Preferred Stock Risk - The Fund may invest in preferred stock. Unlike common stock, preferred stock generally pays a fixed |
2
Summary Prospectus | March 1, 2024 (as revised November 18, 2024)
dividend from a company's earnings and may have a preference over common stock on the distribution of a company's assets in the event of bankruptcy or liquidation. Preferred stockholders' liquidation rights are subordinate to the company's debt holders and creditors. If interest rates rise, the fixed dividend on preferred stocks may be less attractive and the price of preferred stocks may decline. |
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• |
Warrants and Rights Risk - The Fund may invest in warrants and rights. Warrants and rights can provide a greater potential for profit or loss than an equivalent investment in the underlying security. Prices of warrants and rights do not necessarily move in tandem with the prices of the underlying securities and therefore are highly volatile and speculative investments. |
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• |
Foreign Investment Risk - The Fund may invest in foreign investments (including American Depositary Receipts ("ADRs"), Global Depositary Receipts ("GDRs") and European Depositary Receipts ("EDRs")). Foreign investments are susceptible to less politically, economically and socially stable environments and adverse changes to government regulations. While depositary receipts provide an alternative to directly purchasing the underlying foreign securities in their respective national markets and currencies, investments in ADRs, GDRs and EDRs continue to be subject to many of the risks associated with investing directly in foreign investments. The Fund's investments may subject it to the risks associated with investing in the European markets, including the risks associated with the United Kingdom's exit from the European Union ("Brexit") and the war in Ukraine. The impact of Brexit on the United Kingdom and European economies could be significant, potentially resulting in increased volatility and illiquidity and lower economic growth for companies that rely significantly on the United Kingdom and/or Europe for their business activities and revenues. Any further exits from the European Union, or an increase in the belief that such exits are likely or possible, would likely cause additional market disruption globally and introduce new legal and regulatory uncertainties. |
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• |
Other Investment Company Risk - To the extent the Fund invests in other investment companies, including money market funds and exchange-traded funds ("ETFs"), its performance will be affected by the performance of those other investment companies. Investments in other investment companies are subject to the risks of the other investment companies' investments. In addition, the Fund will pay a proportional share of the fees and expenses of the other investment companies in addition to its own fees and expenses and, as a result, shareholders will be subject to two layers of fees and expenses. |
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• |
New Fund Risk - The Fund may not be successful in implementing its investment strategy, and its investment strategy may not be successful under all future market conditions, either of which could result in the Fund being liquidated at some future time without shareholder approval and/or at a time that may not be favorable for certain shareholders. New funds may not attract sufficient assets to achieve investment, trading or other efficiencies. |
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• |
Cybersecurity Risk - The occurrence of a disaster such as a cyber-attack, a natural catastrophe, an industrial accident, a terrorist attack or war, events unanticipated in the disaster recovery systems of the Fund and Adviser, or a support failure from external providers, could have an adverse effect on the Fund's ability to conduct business and on its results of operations and financial condition, particularly if those events affect the Fund and/ or the Adviser's computer-based data processing, transmission, storage, and retrieval systems or destroy data. |
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• |
Value Investment Strategy Risk - "Value" investments, as a category, or entire industries or sectors associated with such investments, may lose favor with investors as compared to those that are more "growth" oriented. In such an event, the Fund's investment returns would be expected to lag relative to returns associated with more growth-oriented investment strategies. Investing in or having exposure to "value" securities presents the risk that such securities may never reach what the Adviser believes are their full market values. |
An investment in the Fund is not a bank deposit and is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) or any other government agency.
For more information on the risks of investing in the Smid Cap Fund, please see the More Information about the Funds' Investments section of the Fund's Prospectus.
Investment Results
The following information provides an indication of the risks of investing in the Smid Cap Fund by showing changes in the Fund's performance from year to year, and by showing how the Fund's average annual returns for the periods shown compare with those of one or more broad measures of market performance, which have characteristics relevant to the Fund's investment strategy. The indices are described in the Fund Indices section. As with all mutual funds, past performance is not an indication of future performance (before or after taxes).
After-tax returns are calculated using the highest individual U.S. federal income tax rate for each year, and do not reflect the effect of state and local taxes. Actual after-tax returns depend on your individual tax situation. After-tax returns are not relevant to investors in tax-deferred accounts, such as 401(k) plans or individual retirement accounts.
Updated performance information is available at www.firsteagle.com/us-smid-cap-opportunity-fund or by calling 800.334.2143.
The following bar chart assumes reinvestment of dividends and distributions and does not reflect any sales charges. If sales charges were included the returns would be lower.
Calendar Year Total Returns-Class A
Best Quarter* |
Worst Quarter* |
|||||||
Fourth Quarter 2023 |
11.28% |
Third Quarter 2023 |
-6.81% |
|||||
* |
For the period presented in the bar chart above |
The following table discloses after-tax returns only for Class A shares. After-tax returns for Class I and Class R6 shares will vary.
3
First Eagle U.S. Smid Cap Opportunity Fund Summary Prospectus | March 1, 2024 (as revised November 18, 2024)
Average Annual Total Returns as of December 31, 2023
1 Year |
Class A |
Class I |
Class R6 |
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First Eagle U.S. Smid Cap Opportunity Fund |
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Class A Shares |
||||||||||||||||||||
Return Before Taxes |
11.28% |
-1.09% |
- |
- |
||||||||||||||||
Return After Taxes on Distributions |
10.77% |
-1.44% |
- |
- |
||||||||||||||||
Return After Taxes on Distributions and Sales of Fund Shares |
6.99% |
-0.85% |
- |
- |
||||||||||||||||
Class I Shares |
||||||||||||||||||||
Return Before Taxes |
17.53% |
- |
3.04% |
- |
||||||||||||||||
Class R6 Shares |
||||||||||||||||||||
Return Before Taxes |
17.45% |
- |
- |
2.96% |
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Russell 2500TM Value Index (reflects no deduction for fees or expenses, but reflects net of withholding taxes) |
15.98% |
1.97% |
3.61% |
1.97% |
||||||||||||||||
Russell 2500TM Index (reflects no deduction for fees or expenses, but reflects net of withholding taxes) |
17.42% |
-1.27% |
0.77% |
-1.27% |
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S&P 500 Index (reflects no deduction for fees, expenses or taxes) |
26.29% |
5.93% |
8.57% |
5.93% |
Our Management Team
First Eagle Investment Management, LLC serves as the Smid Cap Fund's Adviser.
William A. Hench and Suzanne Franks are jointly and primarily responsible for the day-to-day management of the Smid Cap Fund's portfolio and have managed the Fund since August 2022.
William A. Hench is the lead Portfolio Manager of the Smid Cap Fund. He joined First Eagle Investment Management, LLC as the lead Portfolio Manager of the First Eagle Small Cap Opportunity Fund and head of the Small Cap team in April 2021. Previously, William was a portfolio manager of the Small Cap Opportunistic Value strategy at Royce Investment Partners, where he worked for 18 years.
Suzanne Franks is the Associate Portfolio Manager of the Smid Cap Fund. She joined First Eagle Investment Management, LLC as an Associate Portfolio Manager of the First Eagle Small Cap Opportunity Fund in April 2021. Previously, Suzanne was assistant portfolio manager of the Small Cap Opportunistic Value strategy at Royce Investment Partners.
How to Purchase and Redeem Shares
The minimum initial investment amount generally required for the Smid Cap Fund is $2,500 for Class A and $1 million for Class I. There is no minimum initial investment for Class R6. See the About Your Investment-How to Purchase Shares section of the Fund's Prospectus for more information.
You may purchase Fund shares on any business day at their public offering price next computed after proper receipt of the order. You may redeem or exchange Fund shares on any business day at their net asset value next computed after proper receipt of the order.
Transaction orders may be submitted via telephone, through your authorized dealer or through the Fund's transfer agent, SS&C GIDS, Inc. Shares held in the dealer's "street name" must be redeemed or exchanged through the dealer. See the Once You Become a Shareholder section of the Fund's Prospectus for more information.
Send all shareholder inquiries and requests for other information or transactions to:
Regular Mail: |
Overnight Mail: |
Tax Information
It is the Fund's policy to make periodic distributions of net investment income and net realized capital gains, if any. The Fund's distributions are taxable, and will be taxed as ordinary income or capital gains, unless you are investing through a tax-deferred account, such as a 401(k) plan or an individual retirement account. Amounts withdrawn from a tax-deferred account may be subject to tax, including a penalty on pre-retirement distributions that are not properly rolled over to other tax-deferred accounts. See the Information on Dividends, Distributions and Taxes section of the Fund's Prospectus for more information.
Payments to Broker-Dealers and
Financial Intermediaries
If you purchase shares of the Fund through a broker-dealer or other financial intermediary (such as a bank), the Fund and its related companies may pay the intermediary for the sale of Fund shares and related services. These payments may create a conflict of interest by influencing the broker-dealer or other intermediary and your financial adviser to recommend the Fund over another investment. Ask your individual financial adviser or visit your financial intermediary's website for more information. See the About Your Investment-Distribution and/or Shareholder Services Expenses section of the Fund's Prospectus for more information.
4