Investor Login Advisors Contact Us FAQs Search EARLY STAGE GROWTH FUND QUICK FACTS Investor Institutional Ticker: BUFOX BUIOX Inception Date: 5/21/2004 7/1/2019 Expense Ratio: 1.51% 1.36% Total Net Assets: $140.69 Million (9/30/21) Morningstar Category: Small Cap Growth Benchmark Index: Morningstar U.S. Small Growth Related Material: Fund Fact Sheet Q3 2021 PM Commentary Q3 2021 Summary Prospectus RECENT MEDIA COVERAGE Kiplinger Top-Performing Mutual Fund (10 Years) – August 18, 2021 Kiplinger Top-Performing Mutual Fund (10 Years) – July 28, 2021 Kiplinger Top-Performing Mutual Fund (10 Years) – June 17, 2021 Kiplinger Top-Performing Mutual Fund (10 Years) – May 13, 2021 Kiplinger Top-Performing Mutual Fund (10 Years) – April 22, 2021 Kiplinger Top-Performing Mutual Fund (10 Years) – March 23, 2021 Investor’s Business Daily 2021 Best Mutual Funds Award Winner – March 22, 2021 Kiplinger Top-Performing Mutual Fund (10 Years) – January 19, 2021 FinancialPlanning.com – December 1, 2020 FUND OBJECTIVE & INVESTMENT PROCESS The investment objective of the Buffalo Early Stage Growth Fund is long-term growth of capital. The Fund invests primarily in equity securities, consisting of common stocks, preferred stocks, convertible securities, warrants and rights, of companies that, at the time of purchase by the Fund, are defined as early stage growth companies. Early stage growth companies are defined by the Fund as companies that, at the time of purchase by the Fund, have market capitalizations below the median of the Morningstar US Small Growth Index and are companies that are starting to develop a new product or service or have recently developed a new product or service. As of June 30, 2021, the median market capitalization of the Morningstar U.S. Small Growth Index was $4.2 billion. The Fund managers seek to identify companies for the Fund’s portfolio that are expected to experience growth based on the identification of long-term, measurable secular trends, and which, as a result, may have potential revenue growth in excess of the gross domestic product growth rate. Companies are screened using in-depth, in-house research to identify premier early-stage growth companies which generally demonstrate: Strong management teams Little or no debt Potential for increasing free cash flow Scalable business models with a competitive advantage Potential for increasing margins Attractive risk/reward given the market framework We believe investing in an actively-managed portfolio of premier, early-stage, growth companies could lead to growth of capital over time. We look for companies that could benefit from long-term industrial, technological, or general market trends, and are trading at what we view as attractive valuations. Craig Richard, Portfolio Manager MORNINGSTAR RATING Overall Morningstar Rating™ of BUFOX based on risk-adjusted returns among 574 Small Growth funds as of 10/31/21. INVESTMENT STYLE PERFORMANCE (%) MONTH - END QUARTER - END CALENDAR YEAR As of 10/31/21 3 MO YTD 1 YR 3 YR 5 YR 10 YR 15 YR Since Inception BUFFALO EARLY STAGE GROWTH FUND - Investor -0.08 13.53 46.57 27.26 24.46 18.46 11.25 11.39 BUFFALO EARLY STAGE GROWTH FUND - Institutional 0.00 13.67 46.80 27.45 24.65 18.64 11.42 11.56 Morningstar U.S. Small Growth Index 4.60 6.14 32.25 20.50 19.65 15.12 11.06 11.11 Morningstar Small Growth Category 3.84 15.33 45.00 22.75 20.79 15.47 11.21 10.61 *As of October 16, 2020, the name of the Buffalo Emerging Opportunities Fund changed to the Early Stage Growth Fund. For performance prior to 7/1/19 (Inception Date of Institutional Class), performance of the Investor Class shares is used and includes expenses not applicable and lower than those of Investor Class shares.Performance data quoted represents past performance; past performance does not guarantee future results. The investment return and principal value of an investment will fluctuate so that an investor’s shares, when redeemed, may be worth more or less than their original cost. Current performance of the fund may be lower of higher than the performance quoted and can be obtained here. Performance is annualized for periods greater than 1 year. Each Morningstar category average represents a universe of funds with similar objectives. 3 YEAR RISK METRICS BUFOX vs Morningstar U.S. Small Growth Index (As of 9/30/21) Upside Capture 115.32 Downside Capture 90.61 Alpha 7.99 Beta 0.99 Sharpe Ratio 0.79 HYPOTHETICAL GROWTH OF $10,000 Buffalo Early Stage Growth Fund - Investor Class Morningstar U.S. Small Growth Index 2006 2008 2010 2012 2014 2016 2018 2020 2022 $0 $20,000 $40,000 $60,000 $80,000 This chart illustrates the performance of a hypothetical $10,000 investment made in the Fund on the Inception Date. Assumes reinvestment of dividends and capital gains. This chart does not imply future performance. PORTFOLIO PORTFOLIO CHARACTERISTICS (As of 9/30/21) # of Holdings 71 Median Market Cap $1.38 B Weighted Average Market Cap $2.33 B 3-Yr Annualized Turnover Ratio 32.09% % of Holdings with Free Cash Flow 62.69% Active Share 92.92% TOP 10 HOLDINGS Holding Ticker Sector % of Net Assets Open Lending Corp. LPRO Financial Services 2.95% Mimecast MIME Technology 2.78% Overstock.com OSTK Consumer Discretionary 2.69% Shutterstock SSTK Communications 2.41% 8x8 EGHT Communications 2.36% Omnicell OMCL Health Care 2.35% NV5 Global NVEE Industrials 2.29% Establishment Labs ESTA Health Care 2.13% Cerence CRNC Technology 2.07% MaxLinear MXL Technology 1.99% TOP 10 HOLDINGS TOTAL 24.02% As of 6/30/21. Top 10 Holdings for the quarter are not disclosed until 60 days after quarter end. Fund holdings are subject to change and are not recommendations to buy or sell any securities. View Full Holdings SECTOR WEIGHTING 21.8 2.7 0.0 11.1 13.9 14.5 22.1 1.0 1.7 2.6 0.0 8.5 10.4 1.7 1.1 7.8 24.1 13.7 34.0 2.5 3.3 1.0 0.5 0.0 Buffalo Early Stage Growth Fund Morningstar U.S. Small Growth Index Consumer Discretionary Consumer Staples Energy Financials Health Care Industrials Information Technology Materials Real Estate Telecommunications Utilities Cash 0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40% As of 9/30/21. Security weightings are subject to change and are not recommendations to buy or sell any securities. Sector Allocation may not equal 100% due to rounding. MARKET CAPITALIZATION Micro Cap (<$1.5B): 45.5% Small Cap ($1.5B - $4.5B): 42.1% Mid Cap ($4.5B - $30B): 12.4% As of 9/30/21. Market Cap percentages may not equal 100% due to rounding. MANAGEMENT Craig Richard, CFA Portfolio Manager 19 Years of Experience View full bio Doug Cartwright, CFA Portfolio Manager 15 Years of Experience View full bio COMMENTARY Q3 2021 Commentary CAPITAL MARKET OVERVIEW PERFORMANCE COMMENTARY (As of 9/30/21) — During the quarter the Buffalo Early Stage Growth Fund (BUFOX) generated a return of -4.14%, exceeding the Morningstar U.S. Small Growth Index’s return of -4.50%. On a calendar year-to-date basis, the Fund has seen a return of 10.78%. This compared favorably to the primary benchmark return of -0.35%. The 3rd quarter saw a small pullback in the small cap universe after a solid start to the year. This marked the first quarter, since the onset of COVID-19 in early 2020, that we have seen a negative return, following five strong quarters of positive returns. The Delta variant was a dominant story for much of the quarter and contributed to the pullback. As of this writing, 68.1% of individuals in the U.S. over the age of 18 have been fully vaccinated. Additionally, the primary metric we have watched during the global pandemic, hospitalizations, stands at 55,000 individuals in the U.S. We began the 3rd quarter with only 12,000 hospitalized and saw the Delta variant quickly take this number to 95,000 by the first week of September. Hospitalizations have been on a downward trajectory since then. The Fund’s slight outperformance in the quarter was a combination of small contributions amongst a number of sectors. The largest positive attribution came from the Healthcare sector where our underweight helped, given the sector outpaced the Index on the downside, returning -9.07% in the quarter on average. Individual standouts in the quarter included Intelligent Systems Corp. on the upside and Open Lending on the downside. Intelligent Systems’ operations primarily surround its CoreCard Software business. This business offers a comprehensive back office offering for financial institutions, program managers, and retailers looking to offer debit cards, credit cards, private label cards, etc. Their systems maintain individual account level data, assess fees, record payments, resolve disputes, compute interest, etc. The CoreCard platform and their extensive offshore development team has allowed them to win significant clients, including Goldman Sachs. Goldman Sachs has made an aggressive first step into the consumer credit card business with the partnership with Apple in launching the Apple Card. Intelligent Systems offers a way to participate directly in Goldman Sach’s credit card launch with Apple and other partners over time as they pursue growth in this platform. With EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, amortization) margins approaching 40% and the only growth limiting factor being how fast they can hire software engineers, we continue to like the set-up for Intelligent Systems. It remains a smaller weighting in the Fund given the customer concentration with Goldman Sachs providing a higher risk factor. Open Lending has been a nice contributor to Fund returns over the past 15 months but was a drag on results in the 3rd quarter. The company stands alone currently in providing real-time decision automation tools for lenders in the near-prime consumer segment for auto loans. With over 20 years of data and operations, there are currently no competitive threats to Open Lending. Along with signing up credit unions and banks as customers, Open Lending has signed up two car manufacturers and their captive finance units to use the company’s platform for consumers in the near-prime credit score category. These dealerships and their finance departments will use the Open Lending platform for both new and used car financing. We believe the concern around the story in the quarter is transitory, as the delays in bringing on additional car manufacturers and their finance units and the pressure on automotive sales from supply chain disruptions should clear up over time. We continue to like the stock longer term given the long runway for growth, as Open Lending currently processes less than 2% of the over 10 million car loans that are made annually to this consumer set. The Fund ended the quarter with 66 holdings. OUTLOOK The opinions expressed are those of the Portfolio Manager(s) and are subject to change, are not guaranteed and should not be considered recommendations to buy or sell any security. Earnings growth is not representative of the fund’s future performance. LITERATURE Buffalo Early Stage Growth Documents Last Updated Fact Sheet 9/30/21 Quarterly Commentary 9/30/21 Full Fund Holdings 9/30/21 Summary Prospectus 7/29/21 Prospectus 7/29/21 Statement of Additional Information 7/29/21 Annual Report 3/31/21 Semi-Annual Report 9/30/20 Tax Guide - 2020 1/10/21 General Account Forms Investor Class Institutional Class Both New Account Application New Account Application - Entity Change or Add Account Details Cost Basis Method Election Power of Attorney Individual Retirement Account (IRA) Forms IRA Account Application IRA Beneficiary Addition / Change IRA Required Minimum Distribution (RMD) IRA / Qualified Plan Distribution Request IRA Transfer Coverdell Education Savings Accounts (ESA) Forms Coverdell ESA Application Coverdell ESA Distribution Request Coverdell ESA Transfer Retirement Information Retirement Savings Options for Individuals The Morningstar Rating™ for funds, or "star rating", is calculated for managed products (including mutual funds, variable annuity and variable life subaccounts, exchange-traded funds, closed-end funds, and separate accounts) with at least a three-year history. Exchange-traded funds and open-ended mutual funds are considered a single population for comparative purposes. It is calculated based on a Morningstar Risk-Adjusted Return measure that accounts for variation in a managed product's monthly excess performance, placing more emphasis on downward variations and rewarding consistent performance. The top 10% of products in each product category receive 5 stars, the next 22.5% receive 4 stars, the next 35% receive 3 stars, the next 22.5% receive 2 stars, and the bottom 10% receive 1 star. The Overall Morningstar Rating™ for a managed product is derived from a weighted average of the performance figures associated with its three-, five-, and 10-year (if applicable) Morningstar Rating™ metrics. The weights are: 100% three-year rating for 36-59 months of total returns, 60% five-year rating/40% three-year rating for 60-119 months of total returns, and 50% 10-year rating/30% five-year rating/20% three-year rating for 120 or more months of total returns. While the 10-year overall star rating formula seems to give the most weight to the 10-year period, the most recent three-year period actually has the greatest impact because it is included in all three rating periods. The Buffalo Early Stage Growth Fund (BUFOX) received 4 stars among 574 for the three-year, 4 stars among 504 for the five-year, and 4 stars among 380 Small Growth funds for the ten-year period ending 10/31/21. In each Morningstar Category, the 10% of funds with the lowest measured risk are described as Low Risk, the next 22.5% Below Average, the middle 35% Average, the next 22.5% Above Average, and the top 10% High. Morningstar Risk is measured for up to three time periods (three, five, and 10 years). These separate measures are then weighted and averaged to produce an overall measure for the fund. Funds with less than three years of performance history are not rated. ©2021 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. The information contained herein: (1) is proprietary to Morningstar; (2) may not be copied or distributed; and (3) is not warranted to be accurate, complete or timely. Neither Morningstar nor its content providers are responsible for any damages or losses arising from any use of this information. Past performance is no guarantee of future results. The Morningstar Style Box™ reveals a fund’s investment strategy by showing its investment style and market capitalization based on the fund’s portfolio holdings. OUR FUNDS Discovery Fund Dividend Focus Fund Early Stage Growth Fund Flexible Income Fund Growth Fund High Yield Fund International Fund Large Cap Fund Mid Cap Fund Small Cap Fund INVEST WITH US Open an Account Directly Work with a Financial Advisor Platform Availability RESOURCES Account Forms Advisors Coverdell Accounts CUSIP IDs FAQs Investor Login IRA Accounts Literature Prospectus Tax Information ABOUT US Who We Are Investment Strategy Our Team Our History LinkedIn Prospectus Privacy Policy Definitions © 2021 Buffalo Funds. All rights reserved. Before you invest in the Buffalo Funds, please refer to the summary or statutory prospectus for important information about the investment company, including investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses. You may also obtain a hard copy of the prospectus by calling (800) 49-BUFFALO. The prospectus should be read carefully before you invest or send money. Mutual fund investing involves risk; Principal loss is possible. The Buffalo Dividend Focus, Flexible Income, Early Stage Growth, Small Cap, Mid Cap, Discovery, Growth, and International Funds invest in smaller companies, which involve additional risks such as limited liquidity and greater volatility. The Dividend Focus, High Yield, Early Stage Growth, Small Cap, Mid Cap, Discovery, Growth, Large Cap and International Fund may invest in foreign securities which will involve political, economic and currency risks, greater volatility and differences in accounting methods. The International Fund may invest in emerging markets, which are generally more volatile and can have relatively unstable governments, social and legal systems that do not protect shareholders, economies based on only a few industries and securities markets that are substantially smaller, less liquid, more volatile and may have a lower level of government oversight than securities markets in more developed countries. The Flexible Income and High Yield Funds may invest in lower-rated and non-rated securities presents a greater risk of loss to principal and interest than higher-rated securities. Investments in debt securities typically decrease in value when interest rates rise. This risk is usually greater for longer-term debt securities. The Flexible Income Fund may invest in MLPs which are subject to certain risks inherent in the structure of MLPs, including complex tax structure risks, limited ability for election or removal of management, limited voting rights, potential dependence on parent companies or sponsors for revenues to satisfy obligations, and potential conflicts of interest between partners, members and affiliates. Investors should be aware of risks involved with investing REITs and real estate securities, such as declines in the value of real estate and increased susceptibility to adverse economic or regulatory developments. 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