Neuberger Berman Value Fund Delivers Top Decile Performance In Eli Salzmann's First Three Years As Manager

NEW YORK, March 20, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Neuberger Berman Group LLC, one of the world's leading employee-controlled investment managers, is pleased to announce that in his initial three years as manager, Eli M. Salzmann has led the Value Fund (tickers: NVAAX, NVACX, NLRLX) (the "Fund") to rank among the top 10% of performers in the large cap value category of 1059 funds*, as measured by fund tracker Morningstar Inc. as of February 28, 2014.

Salzmann, a veteran portfolio manager, joined Neuberger Berman in January 2011 as a managing director specializing in U.S. large-cap value strategies. He was named manager of the Neuberger Berman Value Fund on February 15, 2011. Over the three-year period through February 28, 2014, the Fund's Institutional share class has outperformed the benchmark, the Russell 1000 Value Index, placing in the 5th percentile out of 1059 funds in Morningstar's Large Cap Value category. As of February 28, 2014, Morningstar rates the Fund's Institutional share class 4 stars overall, 5 stars for three years and 3 stars for 5 years out of 1059, 1059 and 946 Large Cap Value funds, respectively.

Applying a conviction-based investment approach, Salzmann and his team seek out industries with capital and capacity constraints, and companies they consider to be undervalued based on normalized earnings whose value could be recognized by the market over time.  

"Looking ahead in 2014, we have many reasons to believe that the overall economic recovery will continue and that stocks will move still higher," Salzmann said.

"Since joining us, Eli has added tremendously to our investment culture and fit in quite well. Most importantly, we think he has delivered terrific results to our clients," said Joseph Amato, President and Chief Investment Officer of Neuberger Berman. 

About Neuberger Berman

Neuberger Berman is a 75-year-old private, independent, employee-controlled investment manager. The firm manages equities, fixed income, private equity and hedge fund portfolios for institutions, advisors and individuals worldwide. With offices in 16 countries, Neuberger Berman's team is approximately 2,000 professionals and the company was named by Pensions & Investments as a 2013 Best Place to Work in Money Management. Tenured, stable and long-term in focus, the firm fosters an investment culture of fundamental research and independent thinking. It manages $242 billion in client assets as of December 31, 2013. For more information, please visit our website at www.nb.com.

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 and summary prospectus, which must precede or accompany this material. Please read the prospectus and summary prospectus carefully before making an investment.

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. Current performance may be lower or higher than the performance data quoted. For performance data 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.

Most of the Fund's performance depends on what happens in the stock market. The market's behavior is unpredictable, particularly in the short term. There can be no guarantee that the Fund will achieve its goal. The Fund is a mutual fund, not a bank deposit, and is not guaranteed or insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other government agency. The value of your investment may fall, sometimes sharply, and you could lose money by investing in the Fund.

The following factors can significantly affect the Fund's performance:

Market Volatility. Markets are volatile and values of individual securities and other investments can decline significantly in response to adverse issuer, political, regulatory, market, economic or other developments that may cause broad changes in market value. To the extent that the Fund sells a portfolio position before it reaches its market peak, it may miss out on opportunities for better performance.

Issuer-Specific Risk. The value of an individual security or particular type of security can be more volatile than the market as a whole and can perform differently from the value of the market as a whole.

Mid- and Large-Cap Stock Risk. Compared to smaller companies, large-cap companies may be less responsive to changes and opportunities. At times, the stocks of larger companies may lag other types of stocks in performance. The stocks of mid-cap companies are often more volatile and less liquid than the stocks of larger companies and may be more affected than other types of stocks by the underperformance of a sector or during market downturns. Compared to larger companies, mid-cap companies may have a shorter history of operations, and may have limited product lines, markets or financial resources.

Value Stock Risk. Value stocks may remain undervalued during a given period or may not ever realize their full value. This may happen, among other reasons, because of a failure to anticipate which stocks or industries would benefit from changing market or economic conditions.

Sector Risk. To the extent the Fund invests more heavily in particular sectors, its performance will be especially sensitive to developments that significantly affect those sectors. Individual sectors may move up and down more than the broader market. The industries that constitute a sector may all react in the same way to economic, political or regulatory events.

Foreign Risk. Foreign securities involve risks in addition to those associated with comparable U.S. securities.

Currency Risk. Currency fluctuations could negatively impact investment gains or add to investment losses.

Catalyst Risk. Investing in companies with potential catalysts carries the risk that certain of such catalysts may not happen or the market may react differently than expected to such catalysts, in which case the Fund may experience losses.

Risk Management. Risk is an essential part of investing. No risk management program can eliminate the Fund's exposure to adverse events; at best, it can only reduce the possibility that the Fund will be affected by such events, and especially those risks that are not intrinsic to the Fund's investment program.

Recent Market Conditions. The financial crisis in the U.S. and many foreign economies over the past several years, including the European sovereign debt and banking crises, has resulted, and may continue to result, in an unusually high degree of volatility in the financial markets, both domestic and foreign, and in the net asset values of many mutual funds, including to some extent the Fund. In addition, global economies and financial markets are becoming increasingly interconnected, which increases the possibilities that conditions in one country or region might adversely impact issuers in a different country or region. The severity or duration of adverse economic conditions may also be affected by policy changes made by governments or quasi-governmental organizations. Because the situation is widespread and largely unprecedented, it may be unusually difficult to identify both risks and opportunities using past models of the interplay of market forces, or to predict the duration of these market conditions.

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 is 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 ten-year (if applicable) Morningstar Rating metrics. Ratings are ©2014 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 ended December 31, 2013, to all funds that have the same Morningstar category. The highest percentile rank is 1 and the lowest is 100. Ratings are ©2014 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.

The "Neuberger Berman" name and logo are registered service marks of Neuberger Berman Group LLC. "Neuberger Berman Management LLC" and the individual Fund names in this piece are either service marks or registered service marks of Neuberger Berman Management LLC.

©2014 Neuberger Berman Management LLC, distributor. Member FINRA. All rights reserved.

Media Contact: Alex Samuelson, 212.476.5392, [email protected]

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SOURCE Neuberger Berman Group LLC