Lord Abbett
Large-Cap Growth Fund
SEMI-ANNUAL REPORT FOR THE PERIOD ENDED JANUARY 31, 2000
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Report to Shareholders
For the Period Ended January 31, 2000
{GRAPHIC OMITTED]
Lord, Abbett & Co. is proud to announce we have received a DALBAR award for
providing consistently good service to shareholders, the 1999 Key Honor
Award for Mutual Fund Service. DALBAR, Inc., an independent research firm
and evaluator of mutual fund service, presents the awards to financial
services firms that provide consistently solid service to clients.
We are pleased to present you with the following performance overview.
How We Positioned Your Portfolio
The majority of the Fund's performance was a result of our exposure to stocks of
technology companies, which continued to be among the fastest growing in the
U.S. economy. We believe the growth in the technology area, particularly among
telecommunications equipment companies, is at least in part due to what
Investment Team Leader, Stephen Humphrey calls "consumers' increasing and
substantial `thirst for information'."
We also increased the Fund's exposure to the stocks of healthcare companies. We
had previously been concerned that these companies would be negatively impacted
by healthcare reform, but our fears were alleviated when the proposed reforms
were less substantial than anticipated. Our research suggests that several
healthcare companies, particularly pharmaceuticals, have strong business plans,
and offer some of the best growth potential we have seen among companies in this
industry for the past 5 years.
On the other hand, our exposure to certain stocks of consumer staples
companies--those companies that produce goods purchased for personal or
household use--hurt the Fund's performance. Many of these companies experienced
extreme price pressure during the period as both the cost of raw materials and
competition increased, sometimes substantially. These factors led a number of
companies to announce lower than expected earnings, which caused their stock
prices to drop dramatically.
Outlook
We plan to maintain our strong position in the stocks of technology companies in
the months ahead, as we believe many of these firms will continue to achieve
strong earnings growth. At the same time, we will not ignore the stocks of
non-technology companies. We plan to make selective investments in the stocks of
financial services companies because we feel that additional rate increases by
the Federal Reserve Board are likely until the economy shows clear signs of
slowing. While this environment traditionally does not bode well for financial
services companies, we will selectively make investments in those financial
service companies where we anticipate the accelerated earnings growth. As
always, we will continue searching for companies that clearly dominate their
respective industries over the long term, use proven management "visionaries" to
keep their companies on the leading edge and have a clear and understandable
business strategy.
We thank you for entrusting your investment dollars to Lord Abbett and look
forward to helping you meet your financial goals.
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Statement of Net Assets
LARGE-CAP GROWTH FUND January 31, 2000 (unaudited)
<TABLE>
<CAPTION>
Investments Shares Value
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<S> <C> <C>
Investments in Common Stocks 99.65%
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Banks: Money Center 2.35% Bank of New York Co., Inc. 50 $ 2,031
Chase Manhattan Corp. 100 8,043
Citigroup, Inc. 260 14,934
Zions Bancorporation 25 1,478
Total 26,486
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Banks: Regional .36% Wells Fargo & Co. 100 4,000
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Beverages 2.63% Coca-Cola Co. 515 29,580
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Biotechnology .23% *Guidant Corp. 50 2,631
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Broadcasting .58% *Clear Channel Communications, Inc. 75 6,478
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Brokers .32% Lehman Brothers Holdings, Inc. 50 3,575
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Cable Services 1.31% Comcast Corp. Class A 35 1,610
Time Warner, Inc. 165 13,190
Total 14,800
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Communications Corning, Inc. 365 56,301
Technology 6.73% Lucent Technologies, Inc. 250 13,813
*QUALCOMM, Inc. 45 5,715
Total 75,829
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Computer Technology 8.99% *Cisco Systems, Inc. 480 52,560
*Dell Computer Corp. 795 30,557
*DoubleClick, Inc. 50 4,941
*Seagate Technology, Inc. 65 2,604
*Sun Microsystems, Inc. 135 10,606
Total 101,268
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Computer: Hardware 12.91% Compaq Computer Corp. 220 6,022
*EMC Corp. 450 47,925
Hewlett-Packard Co. 100 10,825
Intel Corp. 350 34,628
International Business Machines Corp. 245 27,486
*JDS Uniphase Corp. 10 1,936
*Lexmark International Group, Inc. Class A 100 9,425
*Solectron Corp. 100 7,263
Total 145,510
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Computer: Software 11.68% *America Online, Inc. 375 21,352
Arriba, Inc. 10 1,626
Automatic Data Processing, Inc. 50 2,372
*Ceridian Corp. 100 1,600
Computer Associates International, Inc. 100 6,869
Computer Sciences Corp. 100 9,188
1
<PAGE>
Statement of Net Assets
LARGE-CAP GROWTH FUND January 31, 2000 (unaudited)
Investments Shares Value
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*Comverse Technology , Inc. 25 $ 3,584
Electronic Data Systems Corp. 75 5,072
*Exodus Communications, Inc. 25 2,872
First Data Corp. 60 2,944
*Microsoft Corp. 485 47,469
*Novell, Inc. 200 6,675
*Oracle Corp. 400 19,981
Total 131,604
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Conglomerates 3.44% Minnesota Mining & Manufacturing Co. 60 5,618
Tyco International Ltd. 775 33,131
Total 38,749
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Drugs 8.27% *Amgen, Inc. 215 13,693
Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. 210 13,860
Johnson & Johnson 160 13,770
Merck & Co., Inc. 185 14,580
Pfizer, Inc. 400 14,550
Warner-Lambert Co. 240 22,785
Total 93,238
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Electronics: *Applied Materials, Inc. 85 11,666
Semiconductor 2.14% *Conexant Systems, Inc. 20 1,690
Texas Instruments, Inc. 100 10,788
Total 24,144
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Entertainment .29% The Walt Disney Co. 90 3,268
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Financial Services 3.15% American Express Co. 75 12,361
Morgan Stanley Dean Witter & Co. 110 7,287
Schwab (Charles) Corp. 440 15,868
Total 35,516
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Financial: Miscellaneous .49% Fannie Mae 50 2,997
Freddie Mac 50 2,509
Total 5,506
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Food .19% SYSCO Corp. 60 2,134
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Insurance 2.40% American International Group, Inc. 260 27,073
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Leisure 1.20% Carnival Corp. 300 13,519
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Media .49% *Viacom, Inc. 100 5,538
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Miscellaneous 1.43% *Yahoo! Inc. 50 16,103
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Multi-Sector Company 4.80% General Electric Co. 325 43,347
Honeywell International, Inc. 225 10,800
Total 54,147
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2
<PAGE>
Statement of Net Assets
LARGE-CAP GROWTH FUND January 31, 2000 (unaudited)
Investments Shares Value
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Natural Gas .33% Enron Corp. 55 $ 3,709
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Office Supplies .32% Avery Dennison Corp. 50 3,388
*Staples, Inc. 10 238
Total 3,626
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Oil: Integrated Chevron Corp. 50 4,178
International 2.22% Exxon Mobil Corp. 250 20,875
Total 25,053
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Publishing 2.30% Gannett Co., Inc. 200 13,900
Tribune Co. 285 12,023
Total 25,923
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Restaurants .17% *Starbucks Corp. 60 1,920
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Retail 2.76% *Best Buy Co., Inc. 75 3,581
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. 415 22,721
Walgreen Co. 175 4,834
Total 31,136
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Retail: Specialty 3.30% Home Depot, Inc. 525 29,728
*eBay, Inc. 50 7,503
Total 37,231
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Soaps & House Chemicals 2.06% Procter & Gamble Co. 230 23,201
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Supermarkets .34% *Safeway, Inc. 100 3,819
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Telecommunication 3Com Corp. 100 5,075
Equipment 5.09% Motorola, Inc. 75 10,256
*Network Appliance, Inc. 50 5,019
Nokia Corp. ADR 150 27,450
Nortel Networks Corp. 100 9,563
Total 57,363
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3
<PAGE>
Statement of Net Assets
LARGE-CAP GROWTH FUND January 31, 2000 (unaudited)
Investments Shares Value
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Telecommunications 2.12% SBC Communications, Inc. 100 $ 4,313
Vodafone AirTouch plc ADR 350 19,600
Total 23,913
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Telephone: AT&T Corp. 200 10,550
Long Distance 2.26% *MCI WorldCom, Inc. 325 14,930
Total 25,480
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Total Investments in Common Stocks (Cost $1,092,527) 1,123,070
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Short-Term Investments 1.77% Principal Amount
FC Discount Note 5.72% due 2/1/2000 (Cost $20,000) $20,000 20,000
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Total Investments 101.42% (Cost $1,112,527) 1,143,070
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Other Assets, Cash 11,107
Less Liabilities (1.42%) Receivable for capital shares sold 21,000
Dividends receivable 282
Prepaid costs 56,000
Total other assets 88,389
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Payable to Lord Abbett 46,100
Payable for securities purchased 48,455
Other 9,892
Total liabilities 104,447
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Total other assets, less liabilities (16,058)
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Net Assets 100.00% $1,127,012
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Class A Shares-Net Asset Value ($1,122,360 / 108,725 shares outstanding)
10.32 Maximum offering price (Net Asset Value plus sales charge
of 5.75% of the offering price) 10.95
Class B Shares-Net Asset Value ($1,161.48 / 112.545 shares outstanding) 10.32
Class C Shares-Net Asset Value ($1,163.10 / 112.698 shares outstanding) 10.32
Class P Shares-Net Asset Value ($1,164.83 / 112.866 shares outstanding) 10.32
Class Y Shares-Net Asset Value ($1,162.31 / 112.620 shares outstanding) 10.32
*Non-income producing security.
ADR American Depository Receipt.
</TABLE>
See Notes to Financial Statements.
4
<PAGE>
Statement of Operations (unaudited)
<TABLE>
<CAPTION>
12/15/1999*
Investment Income to 1/31/00
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<S> <C>
Income Dividends $ 682
Total income 682
- --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------==========
Expenses Management fee 1,043
Management fee waived (1,043)
Professional 5,200
Reports to shareholders 3,200
Shareholder servicing 100
Other 1,400
Total expenses before reimbursements 9,900
Expense reimbursements (9,900)
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Net expenses -
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Net investment income 682
Realized and Unrealized Gain (Loss) on Investments
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Net realized loss from investment transactions (312)
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Net change in unrealized appreciation of investments 30,543
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Net realized and unrealized gain on investments 30,231
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Net Increase in Net Assets Resulting From Operations $ 30,913
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*Commencement of operations.
</TABLE>
See Notes to Financial Statements.
5
<PAGE>
Statement of Changes in Net Assets (unaudited)
<TABLE>
<CAPTION>
12/15/99*
Increase (decrease) in Net Assets to 1/31/00
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
<S> <C>
Operations Net investment income $ 682
Net realized loss from investment transactions (312)
Net change in unrealized appreciation of investments 30,543
Net increase in net assets resulting from operations 30,913
- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------===========
Capital share transactions:
Net proceeds from sales of shares 1,096,283
Net asset value of shares issued in reinvestment of dividends and distributions
Total 1,096,283
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Cost of shares reacquired (184)
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Increase in net assets derived from capital share transactions 1,096,099
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Increase in net assets 1,127,012
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Net Assets Beginning of period
End of period (including undistributed net investment income of $682) $1,127,012
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</TABLE>
*Commencement of operations.
See Notes to Financial Statements.
6
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<TABLE>
<CAPTION>
Class A Shares Class B Shares Class C Shares Class P Shares Class Y Shares
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
12/15/99* 12/15/99* 12/15/99* 12/15/99* 12/15/99*
Per Share Operating Performance: to 1/31/00 to 1/31/00 to 1/31/00 to 1/31/00 to 1/31/00
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
<S> <C> <C> <C> <C> <C>
Net asset value, beginning of period $10.00 $10.00 $10.00 $10.00 $10.00
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Income from investment operations
Net investment income(a) 0.01 0.01 0.01 0.01 0.01
Net realized and unrealized gain on investments 0.31 0.31 0.31 0.31 0.31
Total from investment operations 0.32 0.32 0.32 0.32 0.32
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Net asset value, end of period $10.32 $10.32 $10.32 $10.32 $10.32
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Total Return(b)(c) 3.20% 3.20% 3.20% 3.20% 3.20%
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Ratios to Average Net Assets(c):
Expenses, including waiver 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00%
Expenses, excluding waiver 1.02% 1.02% 1.02% 1.02% 1.02%
Net investment income 0.06% 0.06% 0.06% 0.06% 0.06%
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12/15/99*
Supplemental Data for All Classes to 1/31/00
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Net assets, end of period (000) $1,127
Portfolio turnover rate 4.19%
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</TABLE>
* Commencement of operations.
(a )Calculated using average shares outstanding during the period.
(b) Total return does not consider the effect of sales loads.
(c) Not annualized.
See Notes to Financial Statements.
7
<PAGE>
1. Significant Accounting Policies Lord Abbett Large-Cap Growth Fund (the
"Fund") was organized as a Delaware business trust on September 29, 1999, and is
registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940 as a diversified, open-end
management investment company. The financial statements have been prepared in
conformity with generally accepted accounting principles, which require
management to make certain estimates and assumptions at the date of the
financial statements. The following is a summary of the significant accounting
policies followed by the Fund: (a) Security valuation is determined as follows:
Portfolio securities listed or admitted to trading privileges on any national
securities exchange are valued at the last sales price on the principal
securities exchange on which such securities are traded, or, if there is no
sale, at the mean between the last bid and asked prices on such exchange, or, in
the case of bonds, in the over-the-counter market if, in the judgment of the
Fund's officers, that market more accurately reflects the market value of the
bonds. Securities traded only in the over-the-counter market are valued at the
mean between the last bid and asked prices, except that securities admitted to
trading on the NASDAQ National Market System are valued at the last sales price
if it is determined that such price more accurately reflects the value of such
securities. Short-term securities are valued at amortized cost (which approx i
mates market value) if the maturity is 60 days or less at the time of purchase,
or market value if the maturity is greater than 60 days. Securities for which
market quotations are not available are valued at fair value under procedures
approved by the Board of Trustees. (b) It is the policy of the Fund to meet the
requirements of the Internal Revenue Code applicable to regulated investment
companies and to dis tribute all of its taxable income. Therefore, no federal
income tax provision is required. (c) Security transactions are accounted for on
the date that the securities are purchased or sold (trade date). Realized gains
and losses from investment transactions are calculated on the identified cost
basis. Dividend income and distributions to shareholders are recorded on the
ex-dividend date. Interest income is recorded on the accrual basis. Net
investment income (other than distribution and service fees) and realized and
unrealized gains or losses are allocated to each class of shares based upon the
relative proportion of net assets at the beginning of the day.
2. Management Fee and Other Transactions with Affiliates The Fund has a
management agreement with Lord, Abbett &Co. ("Lord Abbett") pursuant to which
Lord Abbett supplies the Fund with investment management services and executive
and other personnel, pays the remuneration of officers, provides office space
and pays for ordinary and necessary office and clerical expenses relating to
research, statistical work and the supervision of the Fund's investment
portfolio. The management fee is based on average daily net assets for each
month at the annual rate of 0.75% of average daily net assets. Lord Abbett
waived its management fee for the period ended January 31, 2000.
The Fund has Rule 12b-1 plans and agreements (the "Class A, Class B, Class C and
Class P Plans") with Lord Abbett Distributor LLC ("Distributor"), an affiliate
of Lord Abbett. The Fund makes payments to Distributor which uses or passes on
such payments to authorized institutions. Pursuant to the Class A Plan, the Fund
pays Distributor (1) an annual service fee of 0.25% of average daily net assets,
(2) a one-time distribution fee of up to 1% on certain qualifying purchases and
(3) an annual distribution fee of 0.10% of the average daily net asset value of
Class A shares. Pursuant to the Class B and Class C Plans, the Fund pays
Distributor an annual service and distribution fee of 0.25% and 0.75%,
respectively, of the average daily net asset value of the shares outstanding.
Pursuant to the Class P Plan, the Fund pays Distributor an annual service and
distribution fee of 0.20% and 0.25%, respectively, of the average daily net
asset value of the Class P shares. Class Y does not have a Plan.
Certain of the Fund's officers and trustees have an interest in Lord Abbett.
3. Distributions Distributions from net investment income and net realized gains
from investment transactions are declared annually. Accumulated net realized
loss at January 31, 2000 for financial reporting purposes aggregated $312.
Income and capital gains distributions are determined in accordance with income
tax regulations which may differ from methods used to determine the
corresponding income and capital gain amounts in accordance with generally
accepted accounting principles.
4. Capital Transactions in shares of beneficial interest were as follows:
12/15/99*
to 1/31/00
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Class A Shares Amount
- ------------------------------------------------------------------
Sales of shares 108,743 $1,091,736
Shares reacquired (18) (184)
Increase 108,725 $1,091,552
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12/15/99*
to 1/31/00
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Class B Shares Amount
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Sales of shares 113 $1,135
Increase 113 $1,135
- ------------------------------------------------------------------
12/15/99*
to 1/31/00
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Class C Shares Amount
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Sales of shares 113 $1,137
Increase 113 $1,137
- ------------------------------------------------------------------
12/15/99*
to 1/31/00
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Class P Shares Amount
- ------------------------------------------------------------------
Sales of shares 113 $1,139
Increase 113 $1,139
- ------------------------------------------------------------------
12/15/99*
to 1/31/00
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Class Y Shares Amount
- ------------------------------------------------------------------
Sales of shares 113 $1,136
Increase 113 $1,136
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* Commencement of operations.
Paid in capital amounted to $1,096,099 at January 31, 2000.
5. Purchases and Sales of Securities Purchases and sales of investment
securities (other than U.S. Government obligations and short-term securities)
aggregated $1,137,394 and $44,555, respectively. As of January 31, 2000, net
unrealized appreciation for federal income tax purposes aggregated $30,543 of
which $85,613 related to appreciated securities and $55,070 related to
depreciated securities. The cost of investments for federal income tax purposes
is substantially the same as that used for financial reporting purposes.
6. Trustees' Renumeration The Trustees of theFund associated with Lord Abbett
and all officers of the Fund receive no compensation from the Fund for acting as
such. Outside Trustees' fees and retirement costs are allocated among all funds
in the Lord Abbett group based on the net assets of each fund.
7. Reorganization On March 9, 2000, the Board of Trustees of the Fund approved
an agreement and plan of reorganization providing for the transfer of all of the
assets of the Lord Abbett Equity Fund (the "Equity Fund") to the Fund in
exchange for Class A shares of the Fund and the assumption by the Fund of all of
the liabilities of the Equity Fund. Following receipt of the Fund's Class A
shares, the Equity Fund will distribute the Class A shares to the shareholders
of the Equity Fund and then the Equity Fund will be terminated. The
reorganization will be voted on by Equity Fund shareholders at a Special Meeting
of Shareholders to be held on May 26, 2000. If approved, the reorganization is
expected to take place on June 1, 2000.
8
