Fees and Expenses of the
Fund
The table below describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy and hold shares of the Fund. You may also
incur usual and customary brokerage commissions when buying or selling shares of the Fund, which are not reflected in this table or the example that
follows:
Annual Fund Operating
Expenses
(expenses that you pay each year
as a percentage of the value of your investment)
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Management
Fees
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0.40%
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Distribution and/or Service (12b-1) Fees
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None
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Other
Expenses
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0.00%
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Total Annual Fund Operating
Expenses
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0.40%
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Example
The following example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the Fund with the cost of investing in other
funds. The example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then sell all your shares at the end of a period. The example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Fund’s
operating expenses remain the same. The example does not reflect brokerage commissions that you may pay when you purchase and sell Fund shares. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:
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1 Year
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$41
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3 Years
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$128
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5 Years
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$224
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10 Years
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$505
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Portfolio Turnover
The Fund 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 Fund shares are held in a taxable account.
These costs, which are not reflected in annual fund operating expenses or in the example, affect the Fund’s performance. During the most recent fiscal year, the Fund's portfolio turnover rate was 67% of the average value of its
portfolio.
Principal Investment Strategies
The Fund seeks to track the investment results of the Index, which is comprised of equity securities issued by
mid-capitalization companies listed on U.S. exchanges that meet certain environmental, social, and governance (“ESG”) criteria. The Index
selects from the securities included in the MSCI USA Mid-Cap Growth Index (the “Base Index”), which generally consists of mid-capitalization
U.S. equity securities that exhibit overall growth style characteristics based on five variables: long-term forward earnings per share (“EPS”)
growth rate, short-term forward EPS growth rate, current internal growth rate, long-term historical EPS growth trend, and long-term historical sales per share growth trend. MSCI Inc. (“MSCI”) is the index provider for the Index and the Base Index. The Index and the Base Index are owned, calculated and controlled by MSCI, in its sole
discretion. Neither the sub-adviser nor its affiliates has any discretion to select Index components or change the Index methodology. As of December 31, 2019, the Index was comprised of 82
securities.
The Index identifies equity securities from the Base Index that satisfy certain ESG criteria, based on ESG
performance data collected by MSCI Research Inc. ESG performance is measured on an industry-specific basis, with assessment categories varying by industry. Environmental assessment categories can include how a company is addressing climate change,
natural resource use, and waste management and emission management. Social evaluation categories can include a company’s relations with employees and suppliers, product safety and sourcing practices. Governance assessment categories can
include governance practices and business ethics. The ESG criteria also consider how well a company adheres to national and international laws and regulations as well as commonly accepted global norms related to ESG matters. Index rules generally
exclude companies with significant activities in certain controversial businesses, including those involving alcohol, tobacco, nuclear power, gambling, and firearms and other weapons, among others.
Companies otherwise eligible for inclusion in the Index that exceed certain
carbon-based ownership and emissions thresholds are excluded from the Index.
Companies that meet the ESG criteria are then
ranked within their respective sectors based on their ESG performance score. The highest ranked companies in each sector are identified as eligible for inclusion in the Index until such point that the aggregate weight of companies in the sector
reaches 50% of the market cap of such sector in the Base Index. For example, if the market capitalization of all consumer discretionary sector companies included in the Base Index totals $200 million, then the Index would screen these consumer
discretionary sector companies, rank them based on ESG performance scores, and add the highest scoring companies to the Index until such point that their combined total market capitalization reaches $100 million. Once the universe of eligible Index
components is established, MSCI optimizes the weightings of individual components to approximate the sector weightings of the Base Index, within certain constraints established by the Index.
In seeking to track the investment results of the Index, the Fund attempts to replicate the Index by investing all, or
substantially all, of its assets in the securities represented in the Index in approximately the same proportions as the Index. The Index is normally rebalanced and reconstituted quarterly in February, May, August, and November. The Index may also
remove a security at any time in response to a corporate event such as bankruptcy, delisting, merger or acquisition that causes the security to become ineligible for inclusion in the Index. The Fund makes changes to its portfolio shortly after
any Index changes are made public.
Under normal market conditions, the Fund invests at least 80% of the sum of its net assets
and the amount of any borrowings for investment purposes in component securities of the Index. In addition, under normal market conditions, the Fund invests at least 80% of the sum of its net assets and the amount of any borrowings for investment
purposes in the securities of mid-capitalization companies. Mid-capitalization companies are defined as companies that fall in the range of companies included in the MSCI USA Mid Cap Index as of the last business day of the month in which its most
recent reconstitution was completed. The MSCI USA Mid Cap Index is designed to measure the performance of the mid cap segments of the U.S. market. As of December 31, 2019, the MSCI USA Mid Cap Index had a float-adjusted market capitalization range
from $2.7 billion to $28.4 billion, with an average market capitalization of $11.9 billion. “Float-adjusted” means that the share amounts used in calculating the Index reflect only shares available to investors, with shares held by
control groups, public companies and government agencies excluded.
To the extent the Index concentrates (i.e., holds 25% or
more of its total assets) in the securities of companies in a particular industry or group of industries, the Fund will concentrate its investments to approximately the same extent as the Index.
Principal Risks
You could lose money by investing in the Fund. An investment in the Fund is not a deposit of a bank and is not insured
or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other government agency. The principal risks of investing in the Fund listed below are presented alphabetically to facilitate your ability to find particular risks and compare them
with the risks of other funds. Each risk summarized below is considered a “principal risk” of investing in the Fund, regardless of the order in which it
appears.
Concentration Risk—To the extent that
the Fund’s portfolio is concentrated in the securities of issuers in a particular market, industry, group of industries, sector or asset class, the Fund may be adversely affected by the performance of those securities, may be subject to
increased price volatility and may be more susceptible to adverse economic, market, political or regulatory occurrences affecting that market, industry, group of industries, sector or asset class. At times, the Fund may be subject to the sector
risks described below.
Industrial Sector Risk. The Fund currently invests a significant portion of its assets in the industrial sector. The industrial sector can be significantly
affected by, among other things, worldwide economic growth, supply and demand for specific products and services, rapid technological developments, international political and economic developments, environmental issues, tariffs and trade barriers,
and tax and governmental regulatory policies.
Information Technology Sector Risk. The Fund currently invests a significant portion of its assets in the information technology sector. The information
technology sector can be significantly affected by changes in, among other things, the supply and demand for specific products and services, the pace of technological development and product obsolescence, market competition, government regulation,
and patent and intellectual property rights.
Cybersecurity
Risk—Cybersecurity breaches may allow an unauthorized party to gain access to Fund assets, customer data, or proprietary information, or cause the Fund and/or its service providers to suffer data corruption or lose operational
functionality. Such events could cause the Fund to incur
regulatory penalties, reputational damage, additional compliance costs associated with corrective measures and/or financial
loss.
Equity Security Risk—Equity
securities may decline significantly in price over short or extended periods of time, and such declines may occur because of declines in the equity market as a whole, or because of declines in only a particular country, company, industry, or sector
of the market.
ESG Strategy Risk—Because the
Fund’s ESG investment strategy may exclude securities of certain issuers for non-financial reasons, the Fund may forgo some market opportunities available to funds that do not use an ESG investment strategy. This may cause the Fund to
underperform the stock market as a whole or other funds that do not use an ESG investment strategy. In addition, there is a risk that the companies identified by the Fund’s ESG investment strategy do not operate as expected when addressing ESG
issues.
Growth Stock Risk—Growth stocks tend to
be more volatile than certain other types of stocks and their prices usually fluctuate more dramatically than the overall stock market. A stock with growth characteristics can have sharp price declines due to decreases in current or expected
earnings and may lack dividends that can help cushion its share price in a declining market.
Index Provider Risk—There is no assurance that the Index will be determined, maintained, constructed, reconstituted, rebalanced, composed, calculated or disseminated
accurately. To correct any such error, the index provider may carry out an unscheduled rebalance or other modification of the Index constituents or weightings, which may increase the Fund’s costs. Index providers generally do not provide
any representation or warranty in relation to the quality, accuracy or completeness of data in the indexes in which they license, and generally do not guarantee that an index will be calculated in accordance with its stated methodology. Losses or
costs associated with any index provider errors generally will be borne by the Fund and its shareholders.
Investment Style Risk—The Fund invests in the securities included in, or representative of, the Index
regardless of their investment merit. The Fund does not attempt to outperform the Index or take defensive positions in declining markets. As a result, the Fund’s performance may be adversely affected by a general decline in the market segments
relating to the Index. In addition, because the Index selects securities for inclusion based on ESG criteria, a Fund may forgo some market opportunities available to funds that do not use these
criteria.
Market Trading Risks—The Fund is an exchange-traded fund (“ETF”), and as with all ETFs, Fund shares may be bought and sold in the secondary market at market prices. Although it is expected that the market price of a Fund share typically will
approximate its net asset value (“NAV”), there may be times when the
market price and the NAV diverge more significantly, particularly in times of market volatility or steep market declines. Thus, you may pay more or less than NAV when you buy Fund shares on the secondary market, and you may receive more or less than
NAV when you sell those shares. Although the Fund’s shares are listed for trading on a national securities exchange, it is possible that an active trading market may not develop or be maintained, in which case transactions may occur at wider
bid/ask spreads (which may be especially pronounced for smaller funds). Trading of the Fund’s shares may be halted by the activation of individual or market-wide trading halts (which halt trading for a specific period of time when the price of
a particular security or overall market prices decline by a specified percentage). In times of market stress, the Fund’s underlying portfolio holdings may become less liquid, which in turn may affect the liquidity of the Fund’s shares
and/or lead to more significant differences between the Fund’s market price and its NAV. Market makers are under no obligation to make a market in the Fund’s shares, and authorized participants are not obligated to submit purchase or
redemption orders for the Fund’s shares. In the event market makers cease making a market in the Fund's shares or authorized participants stop submitting creation or redemption orders, Fund shares may trade at a larger premium or discount to
NAV.
Mid-Cap Stock Risk—Stocks of mid-cap
companies may be subject to more abrupt or erratic market movements than those of larger, more established companies or the market averages in
general.
Service Provider Operational Risk—The
Fund’s service providers, such as the Fund’s administrator, custodian or transfer agent, may experience disruptions or operating errors that could negatively impact the Fund. Although service providers are required to have appropriate
operational risk management policies and procedures, and to take appropriate precautions to avoid and mitigate risks that could lead to disruptions and operating errors, it may not be possible to identify all of the operational risks that may affect
the Fund or to develop processes and controls to completely eliminate or mitigate their occurrence or effects.
Tracking Error Risk—Tracking error is the divergence of the Fund’s performance from that of the Index. Tracking error may occur because of, for example, pricing
differences, transaction costs, the Fund’s holding of uninvested cash, differences in timing of the accrual of distributions, changes to the Index or the need to meet various new or existing
regulatory requirements. This risk may be heightened during times of increased
market volatility or other unusual market conditions. Tracking error also may result because the Fund incurs fees and expenses, but the Index does
not.
Fund
Performance
The following bar chart and table provide some indication of the potential risks of investing in the Fund. Both the
bar chart and the table assume that all distributions have been reinvested. The Fund’s past performance (before and after taxes) is not necessarily an indication of how the Fund will perform in the future. Updated performance information is
available at www.nuveen.com/etf or by calling (800) 257-8787.
During the three-year period ended December 31, 2019, the Fund’s highest and lowest
quarterly returns were 19.00% and -19.12%, respectively, for the quarters ended March 31, 2019 and December 31, 2018.
The table
below shows the variability of the Fund’s average annual returns and how they compare over the time periods indicated with those of a broad measure of market performance and the Index. All after-tax returns are calculated using the historical
highest individual federal marginal income tax rates and do not reflect the impact of state and local taxes. Your own actual after-tax returns will depend on your specific tax situation and may differ from what is shown here. After-tax returns are
not relevant to investors who hold Fund shares in tax-deferred accounts such as IRAs or employer-sponsored retirement plans.
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Average Annual Total
Returns
for the Periods Ended
December 31, 2019
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Inception
Date
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1 Year
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Since
Inception
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NUMG (return before taxes)
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12/13/16
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34.37%
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13.97%
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NUMG (return after taxes on distributions)
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34.29%
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13.19%
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NUMG (return after taxes on distributions and sale of Fund shares)
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20.41%
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10.60%
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TIAA ESG USA Mid-Cap Growth Index (reflects no deduction for fees, expenses or
taxes)
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34.96%
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14.46%
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MSCI USA Mid-Cap Growth Index
(reflects no deduction for taxes or sales loads)
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34.80%
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13.68%
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Management
Investment
Adviser
Nuveen Fund Advisors,
LLC
Sub-Adviser
Teachers
Advisors, LLC
Portfolio Managers
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Name
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Title
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Portfolio Manager of Fund Since
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Philip James (Jim) Campagna, CFA
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Managing Director, Head of Index Strategies
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December 2016
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Lei Liao, CFA
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Managing Director, Index Equity PM
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December 2016
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Purchase and Sale of Fund
Shares
The Fund is an ETF. Shares of the Fund are listed on a national securities exchange and can only be bought and sold
through a broker-dealer at market prices. Because Fund shares trade at market prices rather than NAV, shares may trade at a price greater than NAV (at a “premium”) or less than NAV (at a
“discount”).
The Fund issues and redeems shares at NAV only in blocks of 50,000 shares or multiples thereof
(“Creation Units”). Only certain institutional investors (typically market makers or other broker-dealers) may purchase or redeem Creation
Units. The Fund generally issues and redeems Creation Units in exchange for a designated portfolio of securities and/or cash that the Fund specifies each
day.
Tax
Information
The Fund’s distributions are taxable and will generally be taxed as ordinary income or capital gains, unless
you are investing through a tax-deferred account, such as an individual retirement account (“IRA”) or 401(k) plan (in which case you may be
taxed upon withdrawal of your investment from such account).
Payments to Broker-Dealers and Other Financial
Intermediaries
If you purchase shares of the Fund through a broker-dealer or other financial intermediary (such as a bank or
financial advisor), the Fund’s investment adviser or its affiliates may pay the intermediary for marketing activities and presentations, educational training programs, conferences, the development of technology platforms and reporting systems
or other services related to the sale or promotion of Fund shares. These payments may create a conflict of interest by influencing the broker-dealer or other financial intermediary and your salesperson to recommend the Fund over another investment.
Ask your salesperson or visit your financial intermediary’s website for more information.
