Is It Time For Value? Neuberger Berman Top Ranked Value Manager Says It Is As Fund Achieves Top 1% Rank For 3 And 5 Years

NEW YORK, Jan. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The Neuberger Berman Large Cap Value Fund Institutional Class (ticker: NBPIX) (the "Fund") generated a 14.67% return for the 2020 calendar year, ranking in the fourth percentile of Morningstar, Inc.'s Large Value Category (out of 1,200 large value funds), and outperforming the Russell 1000 Value Index return of 2.80% by 1,187 basis points. The Fund's returns were 12.19% for the three years, 15.56% for five years, and 10.68% for 10 years ended December 31, 2020 placing it in the 1^st (out of 1,128 large value funds), 1^st (out of 998 large value funds), and 26^th (out of 716 large value funds) Morningstar, Inc. percentiles respectively. The Fund's Institutional Class generated a 28.66% return for the fourth quarter of 2020, ranking in the second percentile of Morningstar, Inc.'s Large Value Category (out of 1,215 large value funds).

The Fund's Institutional Class is rated 4-stars by Morningstar, Inc. for the year ended December 31, 2020 (out of 1,128 large value funds) and for the 3-, 5- and 10-year periods ended December 31, 2020 it is rated 5 stars (out of 1,128 large value funds), 5 stars (out of 998 large value funds) and 3 stars (out of 716 large value funds), respectively.

For the past 13 years, growth has mostly outperformed value investing. An acceleration the past few years leaves many investors overweight growth relative to value in their portfolios. In addition to growth funds owning large positions in the FAANG stocks, many value funds, chasing returns, now own these same stocks in their top ten holdings.

Neuberger Berman Large Cap Value portfolio manager Eli Salzmann believes this is a mistake arguing that value is on the cusp of a 3- to 5-year run of outperformance relative to growth, due to close some of the performance gap of the past few years. Record amounts of monetary and fiscal stimulus—along with deglobalization–is a recipe for higher inflation and interest rates that will dramatically favor value over growth. Salzmann has a strong view of better GDP than investors generally believe, expecting GDP to be in excess of 7% for 2021. In this environment, investors should be mindful of what they own and the exposures that truly exist in their holdings.

For his Fund, Salzmann utilizes an active value-investing discipline with a patient, conviction-based approach creating a portfolio with high active share, currently greater than 80% and consistent value exposure. He is joined by David Levine in managing equities for Large Cap Value strategies at Neuberger Berman.

Salzmann's team conducts independent, "bottom-up" fundamental and quantitative research to identify nuances of each company that cannot be captured solely by financial characteristics.

December 2020 marked nine years since Mr. Salzmann has managed the fund. Mr. Salzmann has over 30 years of investing experience. The Large Cap Value team seeks to mitigate the downside and avoid "value traps" through their disciplined focus on rational valuations and catalysts.

About Neuberger Berman

Neuberger Berman, founded in 1939, is a private, independent, employee-owned investment manager. The firm manages a range of strategies—including equity, fixed income, quantitative and multi-asset class, private equity, real estate and hedge funds—on behalf of institutions, advisors and individual investors globally. With offices in 24 countries, Neuberger Berman's diverse team has over 2,300 professionals. For six consecutive years, the company has been named first or second in Pensions & Investments Best Places to Work in Money Management survey (among those with 1,000 employees or more). In 2020, the PRI named Neuberger Berman a Leader, a designation awarded to fewer than 1% of investment firms for excellence in Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) practices. The PRI also awarded Neuberger Berman an A+ in every eligible category for our approach to ESG integration across asset classes. The firm manages $405 billion in client assets as of December 31, 2020. For more information, please visit our website at www.nb.com.

Media Contact: Alex Samuelson, 212 476 5392, [email protected]  

An investor should consider the Fund's investment objectives, risks and fees and expenses carefully before investing. This and other important information can be found in the Fund's prospectus or summary prospectus, which you can obtain by calling 877.628.2583. Please read the prospectus or summary prospectus carefully before making an investment.

The Neuberger Berman Large Cap Value Fund – Institutional Class is rated 4-stars by Morningstar, Inc. for the year ended December 31, 2020 (out of 1,128 large value funds) and for the 3-, 5- and 10-year periods ended December 31, 2020 it is rated 5 stars (out of 1,128 large value funds), 5 stars (out of 998 large value funds) and 3 stars (out of 716 large value funds), respectively.

Please click here for a summary of the Neuberger Berman Large Cap Value Fund's investment risks in addition to other important disclosures.

The Russell 1000® Value Index measures the performance of those Russell 1,000 companies with lower price-to-book ratios and lower forecasted growth values. Please note that indices do not take into account any fees and expenses of investing in the individual securities that they track, and that individuals cannot invest directly in any index. Data about the performance of these indices are prepared or obtained by the Manager and include reinvestment of all dividends and capital gain distributions.

For each retail mutual fund with at least a three-year history, Morningstar calculates a Morningstar Rating based on a Morningstar Risk-Adjusted Return measure that accounts for variation in a fund's monthly performance (including the effects of sales charges, loads, and redemption fees), placing more emphasis on downward variations and rewarding consistent performance. The top 10% of funds in each category receive five stars, the next 22.5% receive four stars, the next 35% receive three stars, the next 22.5% receive two stars and the bottom 10% receive one star. (Each share class is counted as a fraction of one fund within this scale and rated separately, which may cause slight variations in the distribution percentages.) The Overall Morningstar Rating for a retail mutual fund is derived from a weighted average of the performance figures associated with its three-, five- and 10-year (if applicable) Morningstar Rating metrics. Ratings are ©2021 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. The information contained herein: (1) is proprietary to Morningstar and/or its content providers; (2) may not be copied or distributed; and (3) is not warranted to be accurate, complete or timely. Neither Morningstar nor its content providers are responsible for any damages or losses arising from any use of this information.

Morningstar rankings are based on Morningstar total returns, which include both income and capital gains or losses and are not adjusted for sales charges or redemption fees, to all funds that have the same Morningstar category. The highest percentile rank is 1 and the lowest is 100.  As of December 31, 2020 the Fund's Institutional Class shares rank in the top 2^nd percentile for the fourth quarter of 2020 (of 1,215 funds), in the top 4^th percentile for one year (of 1,200 funds), top 1^st percentile over three and five years (of 1,128 and 998 large value funds, respectively), and top 26^th percentile for ten years (out of 716 large value funds). As of December 31, 2020, the Fund's Class A shares rank in the top 2^nd percentile for the fourth quarter of 2020 (of 1,215 funds), in the top 4^th percentile for one year (of 1,200 funds), top 2^nd percentile over three and five years (of 1,128 and 998 large value funds, respectively), and top 40^th percentile for ten years (of 716 large value funds). Rankings are ©2021 Morningstar, Inc. All rights reserved. The information contained herein: (1) is proprietary to Morningstar and/or its content providers, (2) may not be copied or distributed and (3) is not warranted to be accurate, complete or timely.

Morningstar Large Value category

Large-value portfolios invest primarily in big U.S. companies that are less expensive or growing more slowly than other large-cap stocks. Stocks in the top 70% of the capitalization of the U.S. equity market are defined as large cap. Value is defined based on low valuations (low price ratios and high dividend yields) and slow growth (low growth rates for earnings, sales, book value, and cash flow).

NEUBERGER BERMAN LARGE CAP VALUE FUND RETURNS (%)

Performance data quoted represent past performance, which is no guarantee of future results. The investment return and principal value of an investment will fluctuate so that an investor's shares, when redeemed, may be worth more or less than their original cost. Results are shown on a "total return" basis and include reinvestment of all dividends and capital gains distributions. Current performance may be higher or lower than the performance given. For current performance data, including current to the most recent month end, please visit www.nb.com/performance.

Average annual total returns with sales charge reflect deduction of current maximum initial sales charge of 5.75% for Class A shares and applicable contingent deferred sales charges (CDSC) for Class C shares. The maximum CDSC for Class C shares is 1%, which is reduced to 0% after 1 year.

Gross expense represents the total annual operating expenses that shareholders pay (after the effect of fee waivers and/or expense reimbursement). The Fund's investment manager has contractually undertaken to waive and/or reimburse certain fees and expenses of the Fund so that the total annual operating expenses are capped (excluding interest, taxes, brokerage commissions, acquired fund fees and expenses, dividend and interest expenses relating to short sales, and extraordinary expenses, if any; consequently, total (net) expenses may exceed the contractual cap) through 8/31/24 for Institutional Class at 0.70%, 1.11% for Class A, 1.86% for Class C, 1.36% for Class R3, 0.60% for Class R6, 1.50% for Trust Class, for Advisor class at 1.50% (each as a % of average net assets). As of the Fund's most recent prospectuses, the Manager was not required to waive or reimburse any expenses pursuant to this arrangement. Absent such arrangements, which cannot be changed without Board approval, the returns may have been lower. Information as of the most recent prospectuses dated December 15, 2020.

Neuberger Berman Large Cap Value Fund – Top 10 Holdings (%) as of November 30, 2020

All information is as of December 31, 2020 unless otherwise indicated and is subject to change without notice. Firm data, including employee and assets under management figures, reflects collective data for the various affiliated investment advisers that are subsidiaries of Neuberger Berman Group LLC. Firm history/timeline includes the history of all firm subsidiaries, including predecessor entities and acquisitions. 

The "Neuberger Berman" name and logo and "Neuberger Berman Investment Advisers LLC" name are registered service marks of Neuberger Berman Group LLC. The individual fund names in this piece are either service marks or registered service marks of Neuberger Berman Investment Advisers LLC, an affiliate of Neuberger Berman BD LLC, distributor, member FINRA.

The "Neuberger Berman" name and logo are registered service marks of Neuberger Berman Group LLC.

© 2021 Neuberger Berman Group LLC. All rights reserved.

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