Active Equities

Small Cap Growth Fund (Class A)  (PNSAX)

Seeking to capitalize on growing small companies

Small Cap Growth Fund received an  Overall Morningstar Rating™  of  

Highlights

Objective

The fund seeks capital appreciation.

Strategy and process

  • Small companies: Often overlooked by Wall Street analysts, the stocks of small companies can represent attractive opportunities.
  • A focus on growth: Small companies tend to be flexible and innovative, and can often expand their earnings at faster rates than larger companies.
  • A disciplined process: The portfolio manager uses a disciplined bottom-up fundamental investment process that focuses on quality and growth.

Fund price

 Yesterday’s close 52-week high 52-week low
Net asset value $48.11
-1.80% | $-0.88 		$50.20
11/27/19 		$33.25
12/24/18
Historical fund price

Fund facts as of 11/30/19

Total net assets
$512.46M
Turnover (fiscal year end)
37%
Dividend frequency
Annually
Number of holdings
80
Fiscal year-end
June
CUSIP / Fund code
746763549 / 0052
Inception date
12/31/97
Category
Growth
Open to new investors
Ticker
PNSAX

Management team

William J. Monroe, CFA

Portfolio Manager

Manager commentary | Q3 2019

Fundamental research unearths growth

Portfolio Manager Bill Monroe explains why he pays careful attention to stock valuations.

Performance

  • Total return (%) as of 09/30/19

  • Annual performance as of 09/30/19

Annualized Total return (%) as of 09/30/19

Annualized performance 1 yr. 3 yrs. 5 yrs. 10 yrs.
Before sales charge 1.01% 16.01% 11.35% 13.29%
After sales charge -4.80% 13.75% 10.03% 12.62%
Russell 2000 Growth Index -9.63%9.79%9.08%12.25%

Current performance may be lower or higher than the quoted past performance, which cannot guarantee future results. Share price, principal value, and return will vary, and you may have a gain or loss when you sell your shares. Performance assumes reinvestment of distributions and does not account for taxes. Returns before sales charge do not reflect the current maximum sales charges as indicated below. Had the sales charge been reflected, returns would be lower. Returns at public offering price (after sales charge) for class A and class M shares reflect the current maximum initial sales charges of 5.75% and 3.50% for equity funds and Putnam Multi-Asset Absolute Return Fund, 4.00% and 3.25% for income funds and 2.25% and 0.75% for Putnam Floating Rate Income Fund, Short-Term Municipal Income, Short Duration Bond Fund, and Fixed Income Absolute Return Fund, respectively. Class B share returns reflect the applicable contingent deferred sales charge (CDSC), which is 5% in the first year, declining to 1% in the sixth year, and is eliminated thereafter (except for Putnam Floating Rate Income Fund, which is 3% in the first year, declining to 1% in the fourth year, and is eliminated thereafter). Class C shares reflect a 1% CDSC the first year that is eliminated thereafter. Performance for class B, C, M, N, R, and Y shares prior to their inception is derived from the historical performance of class A shares, adjusted for the applicable sales charge (or CDSC) and, except for class Y shares, the higher operating expenses for such shares (with the exception of Putnam Tax-Free High Yield Fund and Putnam AMT-Free Municipal Fund, which are based on the historical performance of class B shares). Returns at public offering price (after sales charge) for class N shares reflect the current maximum initial sales charge of 1.50%. Class R5/R6 shares, available to qualified employee-benefit plans only, are sold without an initial sales charge and have no CDSC. Class Y shares are generally only available for corporate and institutional clients and have no initial sales charge. Performance for Class R5/R6 shares before their inception are derived from the historical performance of class Y shares, which have not been adjusted for the lower expenses; had they, returns would have been higher. Class A and M shares of Putnam money market funds have no initial sales charge. For a portion of the periods, some funds had expense limitations or had been sold on a limited basis with limited assets and expenses, without which returns would be lower.

Performance snapshot

  Before sales charge After sales charge
1 mt. as of 11/30/19 6.56% 0.43%
YTD as of 12/05/19 35.32% 27.54%

Risk-adjusted performance as of 10/31/19

Alpha (3 yrs.) 6.02
Sharpe ratio (3 yrs.) 1.03
Treynor ratio (3 yrs.) 18.00
Information ratio (3 yrs.) 1.16

Volatility as of 10/31/19

Standard deviation (3 yrs.) 16.63%
Beta 0.95
R-squared 0.92

Capture ratio as of 10/31/19

Up-market (3 yrs.) 107.93
Down-market (3 yrs.) 84.18

Lipper rankings as of 10/31/19

Time period Rank/Funds in category Percentile ranking
1 yr. 32/639 5%
3 yrs. 100/565 18%
5 yrs. 120/493 25%
10 yrs. 123/382 33%
Lipper category: Small-Cap Growth Funds

Morningstar Ratings™ as of 10/31/19

Time period Funds in category Morningstar Rating™
Overall 573
3 yrs. 573
5 yrs. 514
10 yrs. 393
Morningstar category: Small Growth

Distributions

Record/Ex dividend date 12/05/19
Payable date 12/09/19
Income --
Extra income --
Short-term cap. gain --
Long-term cap. gain $0.945

Lipper rankings are based on total return without sales charge relative to all share classes of funds with similar objectives as determined by Lipper. Past performance is not indicative of future results.

The Morningstar RatingTM for funds, or "star rating", is calculated for managed products (including mutual funds, variable annuity and variable life subaccounts, exchange-traded funds, closed-end funds, and separate accounts) with at least a three-year history. Exchange-traded funds and open-ended mutual funds are considered a single population for comparative purposes. It is calculated based on a Morningstar Risk-Adjusted Return measure that accounts for variation in a managed product's monthly excess performance, placing more emphasis on downward variations and rewarding consistent performance. The top 10% of products in each product category receive 5 stars, the next 22.5% receive 4 stars, the next 35% receive 3 stars, the next 22.5% receive 2 stars, and the bottom 10% receive 1 star. The Overall Morningstar Rating for a managed product is derived from a weighted average of the performance figures associated with its three-, five-, and 10-year (if applicable) Morningstar Rating metrics. The weights are: 100% three-year rating for 36-59 months of total returns, 60% five-year rating/40% three-year rating for 60-119 months of total returns, and 50% 10-year rating/30% five-year rating/20% three-year rating for 120 or more months of total returns. While the 10-year overall star rating formula seems to give the most weight to the 10-year period, the most recent three-year period actually has the greatest impact because it is included in all three rating periods.

The up-market capture ratio is used to evaluate how well an investment manager performed relative to an index during periods when that index has risen. The ratio is calculated by dividing the manager’s returns by the returns of the index during the up-market, and multiplying that factor by 100. The down-market capture ratio is used to evaluate how well an investment manager performed relative to an index during periods when that index has dropped. The ratio is calculated by dividing the manager’s returns by the returns of the index during the down-market and multiplying that factor by 100.

Holdings

Five Below 3.19%
Bright Horizons Family Solutions 2.83%
Mercury Systems 2.83%
Cable One 2.60%
Novanta 2.54%
Wingstop 2.49%
Trex 2.44%
Hamilton Lane 2.43%
Realpage 2.34%
Heico Corp 2.30%
Top 10 holdings, percent of portfolio 25.99%

Portfolio composition as of 10/31/19

Common stock 97.80%
Cash and net other assets 2.20%

Equity statistics as of 10/31/19

Median market cap $2.95B
Weighted average market cap $4.12B
Price to book 6.75
Price to earnings 34.79

Fund characteristics will vary over time.

Due to rounding, percentages may not equal 100%.

Consider these risks before investing: Investments in small and/or midsize companies increase the risk of greater price fluctuations. Growth stocks may be more susceptible to earnings disappointments, and the market may not favor growth-style investing. The value of investments in the fund's portfolio may fall or fail to rise over extended periods of time for a variety of reasons, including general economic, political or financial market conditions, investor sentiment and market perceptions, government actions, geopolitical events or changes, and factors related to a specific issuer, geography, industry or sector. These and other factors may lead to increased volatility and reduced liquidity in the fund's portfolio holdings. These risks are generally greater for small and midsize companies. From time to time, the fund may invest a significant portion of its assets in companies in one or more related industries or sectors, which would make the fund more vulnerable to adverse developments affecting those industries or sectors. You can lose money by investing in the fund.

Top industry sectors as of 10/31/19

Health care 24.88%
Information technology 23.72%
Industrials 18.05%
Consumer discretionary 15.49%
Financials 7.07%
Communication services 4.64%
Real estate 2.49%
Cash and net other assets 2.20%
Materials 1.46%

The unclassified sector (where applicable) includes exchange traded funds and other securities not able to be classified by sector.

Sectors will vary over time.

Expenses

Expense ratio

 Class A Class B Class C Class R Class R6 Class Y
Total expense ratio 1.20% 1.95% 1.95% 1.45% 0.79% 0.95%
What you pay 1.20% 1.95% 1.95% 1.45% 0.79% 0.95%

Sales charge

Investment Breakpoint Class A Class B Class C Class R Class R6 Class Y
$0-$49,999 5.75% 0.00% 0.00% -- -- --
$50,000-$99,999 4.50% 0.00% 0.00% -- -- --
$100,000-$249,999 3.50% -- 0.00% -- -- --
$250,000-$499,999 2.50% -- 0.00% -- -- --
$500,000-$999,999 2.00% -- 0.00% -- -- --
$1M-$4M 0.00% -- -- -- -- --
$4M-$50M 0.00% -- -- -- -- --
$50M+ 0.00% -- -- -- -- --

CDSC

  Class A (sales for $1,000,000+) Class B Class C Class R Class R6 Class Y
0 to 9 mts. 1.00% 5.00% 1.00% -- -- --
9 to 12 mts. 1.00% 5.00% 1.00% -- -- --
2 yrs. 0.00% 4.00% 0.00% -- -- --
3 yrs. 0.00% 3.00% 0.00% -- -- --
4 yrs. 0.00% 3.00% 0.00% -- -- --
5 yrs. 0.00% 2.00% 0.00% -- -- --
6 yrs. 0.00% 1.00% 0.00% -- -- --
7+ yrs. 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% -- -- --

The Russell 2000 Growth Index is an unmanaged index of those companies in the small-cap Russell 2000 Index chosen for their growth orientation. You cannot invest directly in an index.

Consider these risks before investing: Investments in small and/or midsize companies increase the risk of greater price fluctuations. Growth stocks may be more susceptible to earnings disappointments, and the market may not favor growth-style investing. The value of investments in the fund's portfolio may fall or fail to rise over extended periods of time for a variety of reasons, including general economic, political or financial market conditions, investor sentiment and market perceptions, government actions, geopolitical events or changes, and factors related to a specific issuer, geography, industry or sector. These and other factors may lead to increased volatility and reduced liquidity in the fund's portfolio holdings. These risks are generally greater for small and midsize companies. From time to time, the fund may invest a significant portion of its assets in companies in one or more related industries or sectors, which would make the fund more vulnerable to adverse developments affecting those industries or sectors. You can lose money by investing in the fund.