Management team

Strategy and process

• Established companies: The fund invests in established large and midsize companies mainly in developed markets to benefit from opportunities unfolding outside the United States.
• A flexible strategy: Pursuing Putnam’s blend strategy, the fund can own growth- or value-style stocks to participate when either style leads international markets.
• Building competitive portfolios: The portfolio manager uses fundamental research as the cornerstone of the investment process. This research is supported by quantitative tools and macroeconomic analysis.

Current performance may be lower or higher than the quoted past performance, which cannot guarantee future results. Share price, principal value, and return will vary, and you may have a gain or loss when you sell your shares. To obtain the most recent month-end performance, visit putnam.com.

Performance assumes reinvestment of distributions and does not account for taxes. Returns before sales charge do not reflect the current maximum sales charges as indicated below. Had the sales charge been reflected, returns would be lower. Returns at public offering price (after sales charge) for class A and class M shares reflect the current maximum initial sales charges of 5.75% and 3.50% for equity funds and Putnam Absolute Return 500 Fund and 700 Fund, and 4.00% and 3.25% for income funds (1.00% and 0.75% for Putnam Floating Rate Income Fund, Putnam Absolute Return 100 Fund and 300 Fund, and Putnam Short-Term Municipal Income Fund), respectively. Class B share returns reflect the applicable contingent deferred sales charge (CDSC), which is 5% in the first year, declining to 1% in the sixth year, and is eliminated thereafter (except for Putnam Floating Rate Income Fund, Putnam Absolute Return 100 Fund and 300 Fund, and Putnam Short-Term Municipal Income Fund, which is 1% in the first year, declining to 0.5% in the second year, and is eliminated thereafter). Class C shares reflect a 1% CDSC the first year that is eliminated thereafter. Performance for class B, C, M, R, T, and Y shares prior to their inception is derived from the historical performance of class A shares, adjusted for the applicable sales charge (or CDSC) and, except for class Y shares, the higher operating expenses for such shares (with the exception of Putnam Tax-Free High Yield Fund and Putnam AMT-Free Municipal Fund, which are based on the historical performance of class B shares). Performance for Class R5/R6 shares before their inception are derived from the historical performance of class Y shares, which have not been adjusted for the lower expenses; had they, returns would have been higher. Class A, M, and T shares of Putnam money market funds have no initial sales charge. For a portion of the period, some funds had expenses limitations or had been sold on a limited basis with limited assets and expenses, without which returns would be lower.

Annual performance as of 12/31/14

Capture ratio as of 01/31/15

Lipper rankings are based on total return without sales charge relative to all share classes of funds with similar objectives as determined by Lipper. Past performance is not indicative of future results.

The up-market capture ratio is used to evaluate how well an investment manager performed relative to an index during periods when that index has risen. The ratio is calculated by dividing the managers returns by the returns of the index during the up-market, and multiplying that factor by 100. The down-market capture ratio is used to evaluate how well an investment manager performed relative to an index during periods when that index has dropped. The ratio is calculated by dividing the managers returns by the returns of the index during the down-market and multiplying that factor by 100.