The cover story of the October Morningstar FundInvestor includes the William Blair Small Cap Growth Fund among the best-performing 'FundInvestor 500' funds relative to category peers, from inception through August 2011. The article titled, "The Best and Worst Manager Records" by Russell Kinnel, includes William Blair Small Cap Growth in a table of the top 10 ranking.
Performance cited represents past performance. Past Performance does not guarantee future results and current performance may be lower or higher than the data quoted. Returns cited below are average annual total returns, which assume reinvestment of dividends and capital gains. Investment returns and principal will fluctuate with market and economic conditions, and you may have a gain or loss when you sell shares.
For the most current month-end performance information, please call 1-800-742-7272, or visit our Web site at www.williamblairfunds.com. Class N Shares are available to the general public without a sales load. Class I Shares are available only to investors who meet certain eligibility requirements.
Investing in smaller companies involves special risks, including higher volatility and lower liquidity.
The Small Cap Growth Fund's Class I Shares quarter, year-to-date, one-year, three-year, five-year and 10-year returns for the period ended September 30, 2011—the Fund's most recent calendar quarter end—as well as the Fund's Benchmark Index returns and Morningstar Category Returns are shown in the following table.
The Morningstar Percentile Rankings shown compares a Fund's Morningstar risk and return scores with all the Funds in the same Category, where 1% = Best and 100% = Worst.
Morningstar Ranking / # of Funds in Category displays the fund's actual rank within its Morningstar Category based on average annual total return and number of Funds in that Category.
Fund Performance – Class I (Period ending (9/30/11
|
Quarter
|
YTD
|
1 Yr.
|
3 Yrs.
|
5 Yrs.
|
10 Years
|
|
Small Cap Growth Fund
|
-23.51%
|
-22.39%
|
-11.22%
|
2.58%
|
-2.94%
|
7.65%
|
|
Russell 2000® Growth Index
|
-22.25%
|
-15.57%
|
-1.12%
|
2.07%
|
0.96%
|
5.45%
|
|
Morningstar Small Growth Category
|
-22.32%
|
-15.03%
|
-0.92%
|
2.48%
|
0.30%
|
5.16%
|
|
Morningstar Percentile Ranking in Category
|
--
|
--
|
95
|
50
|
90
|
10
|
|
Fund's Ranking / # of Funds in Peer Group
|
--
|
--
|
713 / 745
|
333 / 661
|
511 / 564
|
34 / 358
|