Mutual Funds

©2012 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. Past performance, rankings and ratings are no guarantee of future results. Rankings and ratings change monthly. Investment return and principal value will fluctuate so that your shares, when redeemed may be worth more or less than their original purchase price.

The Overall Morningstar Rating™ for a fund is derived from a weighted average of the performance figures associated with its 3-, 5- and 10-year Morningstar Rating™ metrics. As of 4/30/12 the Select Value Fund was rated against 351, 306 and 151 mid-cap value funds over the 3-, 5- and 10-year periods, respectively. The Value Plus Fund was rated against 292, 254 and 147 small value funds over the 3-, 5- and 10-year periods, respectively. The Value Fund was rated against 292, 254 and 147 small value funds over the 3-, 5- and 10-year periods, respectively. The Select Value Fund has received Morningstar's 3-star rating for the 3- and 5-year periods and Morningstar's 4-star rating for the 10-year period. The Value Plus Fund has received Morningstar's 2-star rating for the 3- year period and Morningstar's 5-star rating for the 5- and 10-year periods. The Value Fund has received Morningstar's 3-star rating for the 3-year period, Morningstar's 2-star rating for the 5-year period and Morningstar's 3-star rating for the 10-year period. For each fund with at least a 3-year history, Morningstar calculates a Morningstar Rating™ based on Morningstar's 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 a 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. (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 Morningstar Ratings™ are for the specified share class; other classes may have different performance characteristics.

The Funds invest in small companies selected on a value basis. Such securities generally are more volatile and less liquid than those of larger companies. Value investments are subject to the risk that their intrinsic values may not be recognized by the broad market. The Select Value and Value Plus Funds also invest in a smaller number of stocks (generally 40 to 60 and 40 to 70, respectively) than the average mutual fund. The performance of these holdings generally will increase the volatility of the Funds’ returns. 

Annually, Lipper, an independent monitor of mutual funds, determines the fund classification winner over 3, 5 and 10 years based on the highest Lipper Leader for Consistent Return value within each eligible classification. Consistent Return reflects funds' historic returns, adjusted for volatility, relative to peers and relies on monthly data.

Lipper does not guarantee the accuracy of this information. Lipper numeric rankings are based on total returns. As of April 30, 2012, the Select Value Fund's Lipper numeric rankings were 18 of 110, 26 of 221, 94 of 251 and 233 of 302 for the 10-, 5-, 3- and 1-year periods, respectively, and the Fund experienced a negative return for the 1-year period. As of December 31, 2011, the Select Value Fund was ranked 16 of 114, 12 of 219, 104 of 263 and 244 of 309 for the 10-, 5-, 3- and 1-year periods, respectively, and the Fund experienced a negative return for the 1-year period.

S&P 500 Index is an index of 500 U.S. stocks chosen for market size, liquidity and industry group representation and is a widely used U.S. equity benchmark. All indices are unmanaged. It is not possible to invest directly in an index.

Russell 2000 Index includes the 2,000 firms from the Russell 3000 Index with the smallest market capitalizations. All indices are unmanaged. It is not possible to invest directly in an index.  

Russell 2000 Value Index measures the performance of those Russell 2000 companies with lower price-to-book ratios and lower forecasted growth values. All indices are unmanaged. It is not possible to invest directly in an index.

Russell 3000 Value Index measures the performance of those Russell 3000 Index companies with lower price-to-book ratios and lower forecasted growth values. All indices are unmanaged. It is not possible to invest directly in an index.

The Heartland Value Plus Fund closed to most new investors 5/16/11. More information about the closing of the Value Plus Fund is available on our website or by calling 800-432-7856.