Dec. 31, 2024 |
| Lazard US Systematic Small Cap Equity Portfolio
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| Lazard
US Systematic Small Cap Equity Portfolio
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| Investment Objective
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The Portfolio seeks
long-term capital appreciation.
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| Fees and Expenses
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This table describes
the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy, hold and sell shares of the Portfolio, a series of
The Lazard Funds, Inc. (the “Fund”). You may pay other fees, such as brokerage
commissions and other fees to financial intermediaries, which are not reflected in the table and the
Example below.
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| Annual Portfolio Operating Expenses (expenses
that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)
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| Example
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This Example is intended to help you compare
the cost of investing in the Portfolio with the cost of investing in other mutual funds. The Example assumes
that you invest $10,000 in the Portfolio for the time periods indicated and then hold or redeem all of
your shares at the end of those periods. The Example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return
each year and that the Portfolio’s operating expenses remain the same, giving effect to the expense
limitation agreement in year one only. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these
assumptions your costs would be:
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Expense Example - Lazard US Systematic Small Cap Equity Portfolio - USD ($)
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Institutional |
Open |
R6 |
| 1 Year |
$ 106
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$ 131
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$ 101
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| 3 Years |
384
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909
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939
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| 5 Years |
684
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1,707
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1,795
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| 10 Years |
$ 1,535
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$ 3,794
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$ 4,010
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| Portfolio
Turnover
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The Portfolio pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells
securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate
higher transaction costs and may result in higher taxes when Portfolio shares are held in a taxable account.
These costs, which are not reflected in annual portfolio operating
expenses or in the Example, affect the Portfolio’s performance. During the most recent fiscal year,
the Portfolio’s portfolio turnover rate was 111% of the average value of its portfolio.
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| Principal
Investment Strategies
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The Investment Manager seeks to achieve the investment objective
through investing in an actively managed, diversified, long-only portfolio comprised primarily of equity
securities, principally common stocks, of small capitalization US companies. The Investment Manager
considers “small cap companies” to be those companies that, at the time of initial purchase
by the Portfolio, have market capitalizations within the range of companies included in the Russell 2000
Index (ranging from approximately $5.2 million to $15.0 billion as of March 31, 2025). The Portfolio typically invests in 200 to 500 companies. Under normal circumstances, the Portfolio invests at least 80% of its assets in
equity securities of small cap US companies. Equity securities also may include depositary receipts, including American Depositary Receipts (“ADRs”), Global Depositary
Receipts and European Depositary Receipts. The Portfolio may invest
up to 20% of its assets in other securities which need not be equity securities of small cap US companies,
including investments in larger US companies and in non-US companies, including securities of emerging
markets companies traded on a US exchange. The Investment Manager actively
manages the Portfolio using its proprietary investment strategy that creates and applies fundamental
and quantitative techniques into a fully systematic process, which is designed to convert subjective
criteria into various quantitative formulas to make investment decisions based upon fundamental market
data. The Investment Manager terms this its “Automated Fundamental Analyst” investment framework,
which involves steps including the following: · identification of a fundamental
opportunity, a recurring market inefficiency where the Investment Manager
believes that investors are not fully incorporating the impact of a company’s changing operating
fundamentals and/or attractive valuations; · converting this market observation into quantified conditions utilizing proprietary process,
knowledge and techniques; · attempting to validate the observation through
extensive proprietary testing that includes historical data, minimum targeted return objectives and persistence
hurdles; · through the operation of each Automated Fundamental
Analyst, a number of securities are identified; and · the securities selection process is implemented systematically into automated daily operations. The Investment Manager selects investments for the Portfolio by applying the foregoing
securities selection process to an investable universe of all publicly-traded equity securities, with
a focus on small cap companies. However, Automated Fundamental Analysts, which may change over time,
may be applied to the broad market or specific to a particular sector or industry. In addition, the
selection process described above is not sequential, and certain criteria may be given more importance
than others. Target position sizes are determined at the time of investment based on the input of one
or more Automated Fundamental Analysts and subsequently monitored on an ongoing basis. To improve tax
efficiency, the Portfolio may limit investments that have undesirable tax characteristics and may employ
other tax-management techniques, such as adjusting the timing of trades, by relying in part on fundamental
research and analytical judgements of the Investment Manager.
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| Principal Investment Risks
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Risk Table - Lazard US Systematic Small Cap Equity Portfolio
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Risk [Text Block] |
| Principal Investment Risks |
Principal Investment Risks The
value of your investment in the Portfolio will fluctuate, which means you could lose money.
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| Risk Lose Money [Member] |
The
value of your investment in the Portfolio will fluctuate, which means you could lose money.
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| Market Risk |
Market Risk:
The Portfolio may incur losses due to declines in one or more markets in which it invests. These declines
may be the result of, among other things, political, regulatory, market, economic or social developments
affecting the relevant market(s). To the extent that such developments impact specific industries, market
sectors, countries or geographic regions, the Portfolio’s investments in such industries, market
sectors, countries and/or geographic regions can be expected to be particularly affected, especially
if such investments are a significant portion of its investment portfolio. In addition, turbulence in
financial markets and reduced liquidity in equity, credit and/or fixed income markets may negatively
affect many issuers, which could adversely affect the Portfolio. Global
economies and financial markets are increasingly interconnected, and conditions and events in one country,
region or financial market may adversely impact issuers worldwide. As a result, local, regional or global
events such as war or military conflict, acts of terrorism, the spread of infectious illness or other
public health issues, social unrest, natural disasters, extreme weather, other geological events, man-made
disasters, supply chain disruptions, deflation, inflation, government defaults, government shutdowns,
the imposition of sanctions or other similar measures, recessions or other events could have a significant
negative impact on global economic and market conditions. For example, a public health or other emergency
and aggressive responses taken by many governments or voluntarily imposed by private parties, including
closing borders, restricting travel and imposing prolonged quarantines or similar restrictions, as well
as the closure of, or operational changes to, many retail and other businesses, may have severe negative
impacts on markets worldwide. Additionally, general market conditions may affect the value of a Portfolio’s
securities, including changes in interest rates, currency rates or monetary policies. Furthermore, the
imposition of tariffs, trade restrictions, currency restrictions or similar actions (or retaliatory measures
taken in response to such actions), or the threat or potential of one or more such events and developments,
could lead to price volatility and overall declines in the US and global investment markets.
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| Issuer Risk |
Issuer Risk:
The value of a security may decline for a number of reasons which directly relate to the issuer, such
as management performance, financial leverage and reduced demand for the issuer’s goods or services,
as well as the historical and prospective earnings of the issuer and the value of its assets or factors
unrelated to the issuer’s value, such as investor perception.
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| Small Cap Companies Risk |
Small Cap Companies
Risk: Small cap companies carry additional risks because their earnings tend to be
less predictable, their share prices more volatile and their securities less liquid than larger, more
established companies. The shares of small cap companies tend to trade less frequently than those of
larger companies, which can have an adverse effect on the pricing of these securities and on the ability
to sell these securities when the Investment Manager deems it appropriate.
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| Quantitative Model Risk |
Quantitative Model
Risk: The success of the Portfolio’s investment strategy depends largely upon
the effectiveness of the Investment Manager’s quantitative model. A quantitative model, such as
the risk and other models used by the Investment Manager requires adherence to a systematic, disciplined
process. The Investment Manager’s ability to monitor and, if necessary, adjust its quantitative
model could be adversely affected by various factors including incorrect or outdated market and other
data inputs. Factors that affect a security’s value can change over time, and these changes may
not be reflected in the quantitative model. In addition, factors used in quantitative analysis and the
weight placed on those factors may not be predictive of a security’s value.
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| Depositary Receipts Risk |
Depositary Receipts
Risk: ADRs and similar depositary receipts typically will be subject to certain of
the risks associated with direct investments in the securities of non-US companies, because their values
depend on the performance of the underlying non-US securities. However, currency fluctuations will impact
investments in depositary receipts differently than direct investments in non-US dollar-denominated non-US
securities, because a depositary receipt will not appreciate in value solely as a result of appreciation
in the currency in which the underlying non-US dollar security is denominated.
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| Non-US Securities Risk |
Non-US Securities
Risk: The Portfolio’s performance will be influenced by political, social and
economic factors affecting the non-US countries and companies in which the Portfolio invests. Non-US
securities carry special risks, such as less developed or less efficient trading markets, political instability,
a lack of company information, differing auditing and legal standards, and, potentially, less liquidity.
Non-US securities may be subject to economic sanctions or other governmental actions or developments,
exchange controls (including repatriation restrictions), confiscations, trade restrictions (including
tariffs) or problems related to share registration, trade settlement or asset custody, which could,
among other things, effectively restrict or eliminate the Portfolio’s ability to purchase or sell
certain foreign securities. To the extent the Portfolio holds securities subject to such actions, the
securities may become difficult to value and/or less liquid (or illiquid). In some cases, the securities
may become worthless. In addition, investments denominated in currencies other than US dollars may experience
a
decline in value, in US dollar terms, due solely to fluctuations in currency exchange rates. Emerging
market countries can generally have economic structures that are less diverse and mature, and political
systems that are less stable, than those of developed countries.
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| Sector Risk |
Sector Risk: Implementation
of the Portfolio’s investment strategy may, during certain periods, result in the investment of
a significant portion of the Portfolio’s assets in a particular market sector, such as information
technology companies, and the Portfolio would be expected to be affected by developments in that sector.
Information technology companies generally operate in intensely competitive markets on a worldwide basis.
Also, because technological development in many areas increases at a rapid rate, these companies often
produce products with very short life cycles and face the risk of product obsolescence.
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| Securities Selection Risk |
Securities
Selection Risk: Securities and other investments selected by the Investment Manager for the Portfolio
may not perform to expectations. This could result in the Portfolio’s underperformance compared
to other funds with similar investment objectives or strategies.
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| High Portfolio Turnover Risk |
High Portfolio Turnover
Risk: The Portfolio’s investment strategy may involve high portfolio turnover
(such as 100% or more). A portfolio turnover rate of 100%, for example, is equivalent to the Portfolio
buying and selling all of its securities once during the course of the year. A high portfolio turnover
rate could result in high transaction costs and an increase in taxable capital gains distributions to
the Portfolio’s shareholders, which will reduce returns to shareholders.
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| Performance
Bar Chart and Table
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The accompanying bar chart and table provide
some indication of the risks of investing in Lazard US Systematic Small Cap Equity Portfolio by showing
the Portfolio’s year-by-year performance and its average annual performance compared to that of
a broad measure of market performance and an index that is generally more representative of the types
of the market sectors and/or types of investments in which the Portfolio invests. The bar chart shows
how the performance of the Portfolio’s Institutional Shares has varied from year to year. Updated
performance information is available at www.lazardassetmanagement.com or by calling (800) 823-6300. The
Portfolio’s past performance (before and after taxes) is not necessarily an indication of how the
Portfolio will perform in the future.
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| Year-by-Year Total Returns for Institutional
Shares As of 12/31
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| | | Best Quarter: | 2023, Q4 | 11.79% | | | Worst Quarter: | 2022,
Q2 | -13.86% |
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| Average Annual Total Returns (for
the periods ended December 31, 2024)
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After-tax returns are shown only for Institutional Shares.
After-tax returns of the Portfolio’s other share classes will vary. After-tax returns are calculated
using the historical highest individual marginal income tax rates and do not reflect the impact of state
and local taxes. Actual after-tax returns depend on the investor’s tax situation and may differ
from those shown. The after-tax returns shown are not relevant to investors who hold their shares through
tax-deferred arrangements such as 401(k) plans or individual retirement accounts.
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