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    • Overview

    Objective

    The Fund seeks to provide long-term capital growth.

    Flexible strategy: Offers a flexible growth portfolio with the ability to pursue the best opportunities, regardless of market capitalization.

    Key features

    • High conviction: Seeks 35-45 companies to represent a concentrated approach with diversified risks
    • Private-equity approach: Evaluates opportunities as an investment in a business, not simply trading a stock
    • Know what is owned: Committed to a deep understanding of each investment through a 7-step research framework

    Fund documentation

    Additional resources

    Visit the site where the prospectus, reports, and other regulatory documents are located.

    Strategy overview

    The Loomis Sayles investment objective for this Fund is to outperform the Russell 3000 Growth Index. A long-term private-equity approach is ingrained in the investment philosophy of the strategy in which the investment team seeks to answer the question, “If I have the time and capital, can I replicate this business?” As such, the investment team invests in businesses rather than stocks.

    In pursuit of their objective to provide long-term appreciation of capital, the investment team looks for businesses which exhibit 3 critical characteristics – quality, growth and valuation. These 3 critical characteristics are further delineated to create a 7-step investment process. The investment process is one of the few which does not begin with a quantitative screen, but rather a Porter’s Five Forces Analysis of an industry’s value chain. The investment team defines risk as a permanent loss of capital as opposed to tracking error against a benchmark; they believe that defining risk in a relative term such as tracking error obfuscates the fact that the benchmark itself is a risky asset. Absolute risk is managed at both the security level and the portfolio level.

    The strategy is expected to outperform both its benchmark (Russell 3000 Growth) and peer groups (Morningstar Large Growth and Lipper Multi-Cap Growth) over an entire market cycle. The strategy should perform particularly well during periods in which economic growth is scarce, thus placing a premium on quality fast-growing companies with moat. The strategy may lag during periods in which investors indiscriminately reward more cyclically inflation-oriented companies and industries (regardless of their long-term secular growth prospects).

    Fund management

    Portfolio management

    Loomis, Sayles & Company, L.P. logo

    Loomis, Sayles & Company, L.P.

    Since 1926, Loomis, Sayles & Company, L.P. has helped fulfill the investment needs of institutional and mutual fund clients worldwide. The firm's performance-driven investors integrate deep proprietary research and integrated risk analysis to make informed, judicious decisions.

    Founded: 1926

    Location: Boston, MA

    Assets Under Management (AUM): $434.6 Billion (as of 6/30/2026)

    Management team

    Aziz V. Hamzaogullari photo

    Aziz V. Hamzaogullari, CFA

    Portfolio Manager

    Investing since: 1994
    Fund tenure since: 2017
    Education: MBA, George Washington University; BS, Bilkent University (Turkey)
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    Performance

    Average annual returns
    (as of )

    Important disclosure

    The results shown represent past performance; past performance does not guarantee future results. Current performance may be lower or higher than the past performance shown. Share price, principal value, and return will vary, and you may have a gain or a loss when you sell your shares. Current performance may be lower or higher than the performance data quoted.

    Performance returns assume the reinvestment of all distributions. Returns for periods less than one year are not annualized. Total returns reflect a contractual expense limitation for direct annual Fund expenses for all classes for certain periods since inception, without which returns would have been lower. Pre-inception historical performance for newer share classes is based on the corresponding share class performance of a Fund's predecessor fund. If no predecessor Fund applies, historical performance is based on that of the longest existing share class, adjusted for sales charges if applicable.

    Calendar year returns
    (as of )

    Growth of 10K
    (as of )

    Fees, expenses and minimums

    Important disclosure

    The expense ratios are as of the most recent prospectus. The difference between gross and net operating expenses reflects contractual fee waivers in place through March 2, 2027.

    The Nationwide Mutual Funds and NFA entered into a written contract limiting annual fund operating expenses to 0.82% until at least March 2, 2027. Under the agreement, the expense cap applies to all share classes (excluding 12b-1 fees). Please see the Fund's prospectus for more details.

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    Portfolio

    Asset allocation
    (as of )

    Percentage of net assets.

    Top 10 holdings
    NWZLX (as of )

    Holding nameWeight (%)
    No holdings data available.

    Holdings are provided for informational purposes and should not be deemed as a recommendation to buy or sell the securities.

    Sector allocations
    (as of )

    Percentage of net equity assets. Percentages may not total 100.00 due to rounding.

    Portfolio characteristics
    (as of )

    * Portfolio Characteristics are calculated based on the Fund’s Morningstar Category Index using a rolling 3-year time period. If Inception Date of the share class is less than 3 years ago, Characteristic is not available.

    Style details
    (as of )

    Important disclosure

    The Morningstar Style Box is a nine-square grid that provides a graphical representation of the "investment style" of mutual funds as of the date noted above. For stocks and stock funds, it classifies securities according to market capitalization (the vertical axis) and growth and value factors (the horizontal axis). A darkened square in the style box indicates the weighted average style of the portfolio.

    Rankings and ratings
    (as of )

    Fund risks

    The Fund is subject to the risks of investing in equity securities (including small and mid-sized companies). Smaller companies are usually less stable in price and less liquid than larger, more established companies. Smaller companies are more vulnerable than larger companies to adverse business and economic developments and may have more limited resources. Therefore, they generally involve greater risk. The Fund also is subject to the risks of investing in foreign securities (which are volatile, harder to price and less liquid than U.S. securities). Growth funds may underperform other funds that use different investing styles. Funds that invest in a relatively small number of securities may be subject to greater volatility than a more diversified investment. Please refer to the most recent prospectus for a more detailed explanation of the Fund's principal risks.

    Distributions

    Distribution information

    Access important year-end information shareholders will need to prepare taxes.

    [1] Russell 3000® Index: An unmanaged index that measures the performance of the 3,000 largest U.S. companies in the investable U.S. equity universe. Russell Investment Group is the source and owner of the trademarks, service marks and copyrights related to the Russell Indexes. The Fund is not sponsored, endorsed, or promoted by Russell, and Russell bears no liability with respect to any such funds or securities or any index on which such funds or securities are based. Russell® is a trademark of Russell Investment Group.

    [1] Russell 3000® Growth Index: A market capitalization-weighted index based on the Russell 3000 index. The Russell 3000 Growth Index includes companies that display signs of above-average growth. The index is used to provide a gauge of the performance of growth stocks in the U.S. Russell Investment Group is the source and owner of the trademarks, service marks and copyrights related to the Russell Indexes. The Fund is not sponsored, endorsed, or promoted by Russell, and Russell bears no liability with respect to any such funds or securities or any index on which such funds or securities are based. Russell® is a trademark of Russell Investment Group.

    Need more information?
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    Read this important information

    Performance represents average annual total returns, assumes the reinvestment of all distributions and reflects applicable sales charges. Total returns reflect a waiver of part of each Fund's fees for certain periods since inception, without which returns would have been lower. Average annual total returns illustrate the annual compounded returns that would have produced the cumulative total return if each Fund's performance had remained constant throughout the period indicated. Returns for periods less than one year are not annualized.

    Additional disclosures

    Returns prior to the first offering of a specific share class of a Fund are based on the previous performance of other share classes of that Fund as noted below. This performance is substantially similar to what the specific share class would have produced because all share classes of a Fund invest in the same portfolio of securities. Performance assumes the reinvestment of all dividends and distributions. Performance has not been adjusted to reflect differences in applicable sales charges for individual classes, which if reflected may have resulted in higher or lower performance for the specific share class. Performance has been adjusted to reflect different expense levels for individual classes.

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    Morningstar Ratings disclosure

    Morningstar Ratings reflect risk-adjusted performance. The Morningstar RatingTM is derived from a weighted average of the performance figures associated with the Fund's 3-, 5- and 10-year (if applicable) periods.

    Morningstar Ratings metrics: Morningstar Ratings are based solely on a proprietary mathematical formula based on measures of risk and performance that it recalculates each month. The ratings formula measures the amount of variation in a fund's monthly performance (excluding the effects of sales charges and loads) emphasizing downward variations and rewarding consistency. Ratings are subject to change every month. The top 10% of funds in the category receive 5 stars; the next 22.5%, 4 stars; the next 35%, 3 stars; the next 22.5%, 2 stars; and the bottom 10%, 1 star.

    Ratings are based on specific class performance of each fund. Current fund performance may be higher or lower, which may change a fund's star rating. Despite high ratings, funds may have experienced negative performance during the period. Performance may reflect a waiver of part of a fund's fees for certain periods since inception, without which returns would have been lower. The Morningstar Rating does not include any adjustment for sales loads.

    © 2026 Morningstar. 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.