Optimum Small-Mid Cap Growth Fund

Key features

  • The objective of Optimum Small-Mid Cap Growth Fund is to seek long-term growth of capital.
  • Principal Dynamic Growth seeks to invest in securities of small- to mid-sized companies using its “Fundamental Momentum and Positive Surprise” investment philosophy. This investment philosophy is based on the premise that companies producing better than expected results will have rising securities prices, while companies producing less than expected results will not.
  • Peregrine Capital Management, LLC focuses its research on companies experiencing high growth and significant fundamental change.
Fund information
Inception date08/01/2003
Dividends paid (if any)Annual
Capital gains paid (if any)December
Fund identifiers
NASDAQOISGX
CUSIP246118780

Institutional Class shares are available only to certain investors. See the prospectus for more information.

The performance quoted represents past performance and does not guarantee future results. Investment return and principal value of an investment will fluctuate so that shares, when redeemed, may be worth more or less than their original cost. Current performance may be lower or higher than the performance quoted.

Total returns may reflect waivers and/or expense reimbursements by the manager and/or distributor for some or all of the periods shown. Performance would have been lower without such waivers and reimbursements.

Average annual total return

as of month-end (11/30/2025)

as of quarter-end (09/30/2025)

YTD1 year3 year5 year10 yearLifetimeInception date
NAV (view definition)10.35% 2.82% 10.62% 5.11% 10.90% 9.24% 08/01/2003
Russell 2500 Growth Index11.22%2.06%12.32%4.87%10.25%n/a
1 year3 year5 year10 yearLifetimeInception date
NAV (view definition)8.06% 6.76% 11.53% 7.63% 11.06% 9.10% 08/01/2003
Russell 2500 Growth Index10.73%12.62%15.97%7.76%10.93%n/a

Returns for less than one year are not annualized.

Index performance returns do not reflect any management fees, transaction costs, or expenses. Indices are unmanaged and one cannot invest directly in an index.

Expense ratio
Gross1.29%
Net1.19%

Net expense ratio reflects a contractual waiver from certain fees and/or expense reimbursements from July 31, 2025 through July 30, 2026. Please see the fee table in the Fund's prospectus for more information.

Performance characteristics - as of 11/30/2025
Annualized standard deviation, 3 years (view definition)19.01
Calendar year total returns @ NAV
YearAnnual return
202414.23%
202313.92%
2022-28.07%
202112.52%
202057.33%
201925.65%
2018-3.30%
201727.61%
20162.85%
2015-5.40%

Institutional Class shares are available only to certain investors. See the prospectus for more information.

Investment manager

Delaware Management Company

Sub-advisors

LSV Asset Management

Josef Lakonishok, Ph.D. - Founding Partner, Portfolio Manager, CEO, CIO

Start date on the Fund: January 2016

Josef Lakonishok shares primary responsibility for the day-to-day management of LSV’s share of the Fund’s assets. Dr. Lakonishok has served as CEO, CIO, partner and portfolio manager for LSV since its founding in 1994.

Menno Vermeulen, CFA - Partner, Portfolio Manager

Start date on the Fund: January 2016

Menno Vermeulen shares primary responsibility for the day-to-day management of LSV’s share of the Fund’s assets. Vermeulen has served as a portfolio manager for LSV since 1995 and a partner since 1998. Prior to joining LSV, he worked at ABP where he was responsible for the development and implementation of quantitative active investment strategies.

Puneet Mansharamani, CFA - Partner, Portfolio Manager

Start date on the Fund: January 2016

Puneet Mansharamani shares primary responsibility for the day-to-day management of LSV’s share of the Fund’s assets. He has served as a partner and portfolio manager for LSV since 2006. Prior to joining LSV, Mansharamani was an analyst at Institutional Trust National City Corporation. Prior to this experience, he was a systems consultant for Maximations, Inc.

Greg Sleight - Partner, Portfolio Manager

Start date on the Fund: January 2016

Greg Sleight shares primary responsibility for the day-to-day management of LSV’s share of the Fund’s assets. He has served as a quantitative analyst of LSV since 2006, a partner since 2012 and portfolio manager since 2014 and is part of LSV's quantitative and implementation team, which is responsible for the day-to-day data management, portfolio implementation and ongoing enhancement of LSV's models and systems.

Guy Lakonishok, CFA - Partner, Portfolio Manager

Start date on the Fund: January 2016

Guy Lakonishok shares primary responsibility for the day-to-day management of LSV’s share of the Fund’s assets. Lakonishok has served as a quantitative analyst of LSV since 2009, a partner since 2013 and a portfolio manager since 2014. Prior to joining LSV, he was a vice president in the quantitative equity group at BlackRock.

Wellington Management Company LLP (Wellington)

Gregory J Garabedian - Partner, Equity Portfolio Manager

Start date on the Fund: June 2024

Mr. Garabedian is a Partner of Wellington and is an equity portfolio manager on the Opportunistic Value team. Prior to joining Wellington in 2006, Greg worked as an equity research analyst at Gabelli and Company. Before that, he worked as a forensic accountant at PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Institutional Class shares are available only to certain investors. See the prospectus for more information.

The table below describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy, hold, and sell shares of the Fund. You may pay other fees, such as brokerage commissions and other fees to financial intermediaries, which are not reflected in the table below.

Shareholder fees
Maximum sales charge (load) imposed on purchases as a percentage of offering pricenone
Maximum contingent deferred sales charge (load) as a percentage of original purchase price or redemption price, whichever is lowernone
Annual fund operating expenses
Management fees0.98%
Distribution and service (12b-1) feesnone
Other expenses0.31%
Total annual fund operating expenses1.29%
Fee waivers and expense reimbursements(0.10%)
Total annual fund operating expenses after fee waivers and expense reimbursements1.19%

Institutional Class shares are available only to certain investors. See the prospectus and the SAI for more information.

1The Fund’s investment manager, Delaware Management Company (Manager), has contractually agreed to waive all or a portion of its investment advisory fees and/or pay/reimburse expenses (excluding any 12b-1 fees, acquired fund fees and expenses, taxes, interest, short sale and dividend interest expenses, brokerage fees, certain insurance costs, and nonroutine expenses or costs, including, but not limited to, those relating to reorganizations, litigation, conducting shareholder meetings, and liquidations) in order to prevent total annual fund operating expenses from exceeding 1.19% of the Fund’s average daily net assets from July 31, 2025 through July 30, 2026. These waivers and reimbursements may only be terminated by agreement of the Manager and the Fund.

The chart below lists the percentage of the Fund's total assets under management that each sub-advisor manages on behalf of the Fund. The percentages include securities, cash, and any other assets managed by each sub-advisor in its sleeve of the Fund. These percentage allocations should be updated some time after 30 days following a given month end.

DatePrincipal Dynamic GrowthDelaware Management CompanyPeregrine Capital Management, Inc.Total
02/28/202551.06%0.00%48.94%100%
03/31/202550.41%0.00%49.59%100%
04/30/202550.35%0.00%49.65%100%
05/31/202550.25%0.00%49.75%100%
06/30/202550.82%0.00%49.18%100%
07/31/202550.99%0.00%49.01%100%
08/31/202551.57%0.00%48.43%100%
09/30/202552.24%0.00%47.76%100%
10/31/202552.67%0.00%47.33%100%
11/30/202451.69%0.03%48.27%100%
12/31/202451.51%0.00%48.49%100%
01/31/202551.74%0.00%48.26%100%

Total may not equal 100% due to rounding.

Institutional Class shares are available only to certain investors. See the prospectus for more information.

Carefully consider the Fund’s investment objectives, risk factors, charges, and expenses before investing. This and other information can be found in the Fund’s prospectus, which may be obtained by visiting optimummutualfunds.com/literature or calling 800 914-0278. Investors should read the prospectus and, if available, the summary prospectus carefully before investing.

Investing involves risk, including the possible loss of principal.

Investments in small and/or medium-sized companies typically exhibit greater risk and higher volatility than larger, more established companies.

The disruptions caused by natural disasters, pandemics, or similar events could prevent the Fund from executing advantageous investment decisions in a timely manner and could negatively impact the Fund’s ability to achieve its investment objective and the value of the Fund’s investments.

All third-party marks cited are the property of their respective owners.

Frank Russell Company is the source and owner of the trademarks, service marks and copyrights related to the Russell Indexes. Russell® is a trademark of Frank Russell Company.

Not FDIC Insured | No Bank Guarantee | May Lose Value

Fund Finder

Daily pricing (as of 12/12/2025)

Institutional ClassPriceNet change
NAV$15.41-0.32
Max offer price$15.41n/a

Total net assets (as of 11/30/2025)

$755.1 million all share classes

Lipper ranking (as of 11/30/2025)

YTD ranking254 / 524
1 year227 / 524
3 years286 / 503
5 years213 / 486
10 years96 / 382
Lipper classificationSmall-Cap Growth Funds

(View Lipper disclosure)

The Lipper ranking is based on historical total returns.

Holdings

Benchmark and peer group

Russell 2500 Growth Index (view definition)

Lipper Small-Cap Growth Funds Average (view definition)

Additional information