First Quarter 2016 Mutual Fund Commentary RS Global Natural Resources Fund 1

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1 First Quarter 2016 Mutual Fund Commentary RS Global Natural Resources Fund Performance Update For the three months ending March 31, 2016, the RS Global Natural Resources Fund (Class A shares) returned 14.28% versus 7.40% for the MSCI World Commodity Producers Index 1 and 6.26% for the S&P North American Natural Resources Sector Index 2. After declining significantly in 2015, commodity prices generally rebounded during the first quarter with crude oil and copper prices increasing over 3% and gold prices rising by more than 16%. Exceptions were North American natural gas prices, which fell by -16% during the quarter due to mild winter weather, and corn prices, which declined by -2%. The increase in commodity prices was driven by the ongoing improvement in supply/demand fundamentals, the decline in the value of the U.S. dollar, and the reduction in speculative short interest. We expect commodity prices to continue to be volatile and trade between the cash cost of production and the price required for companies to invest in new projects until the supply overhang is eliminated and prices move back toward the marginal cost of new supply. Given the volatility and cyclicality of commodities, we believe that the best measure of performance in the natural resources sector is trough-to-trough through-cycle returns. Commodity mix is a less meaningful driver of relative performance over longer periods of time, as evidenced by the convergence in returns between the natural resources equity indexes as the measurement period is extended. The following table shows the returns for major commodities, our strategy, and other related indices for the first quarter as well as for longer time frames, which we believe to be more representative of a commodity price cycle as well as our investment process and philosophy. While our process is primarily focused on trying to capture the returns related to company-specific value creation, commodity mix can have a material impact on relative performance, particularly over shorter periods of time. Thus, we have attempted to isolate the returns associated with stock selection from the returns associated with commodity mix in our commodity-by-commodity attribution analysis. Over longer periods of time, we expect the returns associated with value creation to be more meaningful than the returns associated with commodity mix, since commodity prices tend to be meanreverting. As always, time frames are crucial when attempting to disaggregate skill from good (or bad) fortune, which is why we focus on through-cycle returns and the sources of those returns when evaluating our own performance. First Quarter 2016 Mutual Fund Commentary RS Global Natural Resources Fund 1

2 Commodity Price Performance AVERAGE ANNUAL TOTAL RETURNS AS OF 3/31/16 Source: Morningstar Direct, S&P GSCI Performance AVERAGE ANNUAL TOTAL RETURNS AS OF 3/31/16 QTD 2016 Performance returns for periods of less than one year are not annualized. 1-Year 3-Year 5-Year 10-Year Since Inception (of RSNRX) 11/15/1995 Crude Oil 3.51% % % % -5.38% 0.79% Natural Gas % % % % % -0.39% Copper 3.13% % % % -1.09% 3.20% Gold 16.54% 4.43% -8.17% -3.01% 7.73% 5.29% Corn -2.02% -6.58% % % 4.06% 2.35% RS Global Natural Resources Fund First Quarter (Class A RSNRX) 2016 without sales charge 14.28% % % % -3.48% 5.37% with maximum sales charge 8.88% % % % -3.95% 5.12% MSCI World Commodity Producers 1 Index S&P North American Natural Resources Sector Index % % -8.29% -7.98% 0.19% n/a 6.26% % -7.59% -6.61% 1.22% n/a S&P 500 Index % 1.78% 11.82% 11.58% 7.01% 8.30% Bloomberg Commodity Index _ TR % % % % -6.16% n/a S&P Global Natural Resources Index 5 1-Year 3-Year 5-Year 10-Year (Gross) 9.27% % -8.21% -8.17% 0.73% n/a Since Inception 11/15/1995 Performance quoted represents past performance and does not guarantee future results. Investment return and principal value will fluctuate, so shares, when redeemed, may be worth more or less than their original cost. The Fund s total gross annual operating expense ratio as of the most current prospectus for the Class A Shares is 1.48%. The performance quoted, unless otherwise indicated, does not reflect the current maximum sales charge of 4.75%. If the maximum sales charge were included, the performance stated above would be lower. Current performance may be lower or higher than performance data quoted. Performance current to the most recent month-end is available by contacting RS Investments at and is frequently updated on our website: Please refer to the most current Fund prospectus for complete details on expenses including fees and also for more information on sales charges as they do not apply in all cases and if applied are reduced for larger purchases. Performance results assume the reinvestment of dividends and capital gains. When compared with the MSCI World Commodity Producers Index, commodity mix resulted in approximately 475 basis points of relative outperformance in the first quarter, driven primarily by our exposure to base metals and North American natural gas. Stock selection added about 225 basis points to relative returns, notably in North American natural gas and fertilizers. First Quarter 2016 Mutual Fund Commentary RS Global Natural Resources Fund 2

3 When compared with the S&P North American Natural Resources Sector Index, commodity mix had a significant positive impact on relative performance in the quarter, resulting in roughly 650 basis points of outperformance. Our exposure to base metals was the primary driver of the positive allocation effect. Stock selection contributed about 150 basis points of positive relative returns, driven largely by our investments in North American natural gas. Market commentary and portfolio positioning Short-term marks for publicly traded natural resource companies tend to be highly correlated with short-term changes in commodity prices and, as a result, can be quite volatile and can vary quite a bit from underlying asset values. Asset values, on the other hand, typically do not fluctuate as much since commodity prices mean-revert around the marginal cost of supply and since asset quality does not change rapidly in the natural resource sector. For those investors that do not know how to assess asset quality or for those that do not have the ability to invest counter-cyclically, this volatility can be problematic, particularly if it results in procyclical investment decisions. However, for those longer-term, contrarian investors that are more interested in taking advantage of short-term volatility than they are concerned about explaining it, discrepancies between asset values and share prices can represent attractive investment opportunities. The recent volatility, the increasing influence of macro/factor investing, and the decline in trading liquidity have combined to create a number of dislocations in the public market for natural resource equities. Over the last few years, market capitalization, balance sheet leverage, and price momentum have been the most important drivers of differential stock price performance in the natural resource sector even though asset quality, financial liquidity, and returns are far more meaningful in determining asset values longer-term. On average, smaller companies have materially underperformed larger companies while companies with more leverage, even in cases where that leverage is manageable, have meaningfully underperformed those companies with less leverage. As a result, there are a number of smaller and mid-sized natural resource companies with both high-quality assets and adequate financial liquidity that are trading at very large discounts to their larger-cap, less leveraged, or private-market peers. More importantly, these companies are trading well below our estimates of net asset value. Thus, we have spent the last several quarters using the recent volatility in the market to build stakes in the few companies that: 1) have low-cost, high-return reinvestment opportunities; 2) have enough financial flexibility to make it through a prolonged period of commodity price weakness; and 3) are trading well below our estimates of net asset value. As an outcome of this effort, our exposures to North American oil and gas and copper have increased quite a bit. In order to fund these investments, we reduced our exposure to the larger-cap, less levered, and more downstream-focused companies that have held up well during the downturn and appear less attractively valued on both an absolute and relative basis. Our largest commodity exposure at the end of the quarter continues to be North American natural gas, with investments focused solely in what we believe to be the core low-cost areas of the Marcellus Shale in Pennsylvania and West Virginia and the Montney Shale/Deep Basin in B.C. and Alberta. Copper is our next largest area of exposure, dominated by investments in two companies that own some of what we view as the most attractive undeveloped copper projects in the world. Our third largest area of exposure is to North American oil, where the strategy is concentrated in those few companies that own core positions in the lowest-cost tight oil plays with potential room for further improvement. There, our focus is on the core of Eagle Ford Shale in Texas, the Wattenberg field in Colorado, and the core areas of the Permian Basin in Texas. While the opportunity set is smaller, we continue to believe that valuations in certain industrial minerals and international oil and gas companies remain quite attractive as well and these areas represent our next largest areas of exposure. Last, cash levels remain low given the attractive valuations that exist across most commodity companies today, particularly for those smaller companies with cost-advantaged assets. First Quarter 2016 Mutual Fund Commentary RS Global Natural Resources Fund 3

4 Outlook Most commodities have been oversupplied over the last few years due to the significant increase in capital spending and production that has occurred over the last decade. Capex-driven downturns, unlike the more recent demand-driven cycles, usually take more time to rebalance given the long lags between changes in prices and changes in production in the natural resource sector. However, with commodity prices having been well below the marginal cost of supply for some time, and with prices now trading closer to the cash cost of production, capital investment has fallen, supply is being impacted, and most markets are finally beginning to tighten. The oil and gas rig count in the U.S. has fallen by more than 75% since the peak in 2014 and spending on new mining projects has declined since In oil and gas, we expect the higher rates of depletion and the impact of lower drilling activity to result in declining non-opec production in 2016 and, absent a price recovery, that decline will accelerate in Given the lower rate of depletion and the longer lag between changes in spending and production, we expect production in the mining sector to continue to increase over the next year or two before slowing meaningfully after While demand growth for some commodities has slowed more recently, overall demand for most commodities has remained solid. As a result, the supply/demand balance is either already beginning to improve for some shorter-cycle commodities, such as oil and gas, or we expect it is about to improve over the next few years for other longer-cycle commodities, such as copper, titanium, and iodine. The magnitude of the eventual cyclical recovery will be influenced by the depth and duration of the current downturn. The longer that commodity prices remain at or below cash costs, the greater we think the supply response will be and the greater the eventual recovery. Barring a recession and a decline in demand for commodities, we believe that the outlook for commodity prices is quite positive from here. In addition to our expectation that commodity prices will eventually revert toward the marginal cost of supply, we also expect supply costs to increase for many commodities over time as well. While most investors remain skeptical about future increases in commodity prices due to views regarding the U.S. dollar, inflation, and the impact of technology on supply costs, our expectations regarding longer-term commodity price trends are based on our assessment of the new projects that will eventually be needed to meet demand. While we do not have a strong view regarding the direction of the U.S. dollar or the consumer price index, our work suggests that the prices of many commodities will need to move higher over time as the industry depletes lower-cost resources and as the impact of technology matures. The difference between our view and the market s view seems to be driven not only by our project-related research and our longer investment horizon, but also by interpretations of cyclicality. As typically happens during cyclical extremes, industry participants confuse normal cyclical fluctuations with secular trends. In the energy sector, much has been made about the impact that technology has had on the cost of supply. While horizontal drilling and fracture stimulation technology have reduced the cost of producing oil and gas from shale in North America, supply costs outside of North America have not fallen. In addition, technology appears to be having a more meaningful impact in the core areas of most shale basins; however, the drilling inventory in these areas is fairly limited. Finally, we view a portion of the recent reduction in costs as cyclical and we expect it to reverse once the rig count moves back toward the level needed to meet future demand growth. Outside of energy, technology has had a much less meaningful impact on the cost of supply, which is largely determined by geology. The expansion of low-cost projects in commodities such as iron ore and potash has helped to reduce supply costs in these areas, whereas the depletion of low-cost projects in commodities such as copper is pushing supply costs higher over time. While increases in supply costs won t be uniform across commodities, we do believe that the prices of many commodities will need to follow supply costs higher over time. This is the source of inflation against which we attempt to provide protection for long-term investors. Furthermore, we continue to believe that low-cost companies with high-return reinvestment opportunities will be able to create economic value and grow NAV by at least 10%-20% per year once commodity prices return to more normal levels. Given that there is limited value being created in the current price environment, even for the lowest-cost producers, and given expectations that commodity prices will remain well below the marginal cost of supply for a prolonged period, the public equity First Quarter 2016 Mutual Fund Commentary RS Global Natural Resources Fund 4

5 market appears to be placing little value on undeveloped projects for many natural resource companies, including those with low-cost reinvestment opportunities. In fact, at the end of the quarter, we estimate that natural resources equities, on average, were trading at a 20%-30% discount to our estimates of NAV using proved reserves and mid-cycle commodity price assumptions. Though valuations have improved somewhat since the end of 2015, valuation levels are still close to those experienced during normal historical troughs, and in some cases, such as natural gas, are still below those witnessed at the end of Thus, risk/reward is extremely attractive given the depressed expectations that exist for both future commodity prices and company-specific NAV growth. In summary, while the commodity markets are slightly oversupplied, capital spending on new projects is declining, demand has remained robust, spare capacity is extremely low, and fundamentals appear to be improving. Depletion will push prices back to the marginal cost of supply, if a supply shock doesn t. As always, the timing will be driven by demand and the magnitude of the supply response. Over time, rising supply costs will drive the prices of many commodities higher, not lower. And, when commodity prices move back toward more normal levels, low-cost companies will continue to create value through the redeployment of capital into high-return projects. Due to the uncertainty regarding timing, the markets do not appear to be discounting these eventualities. As a result of the downturn, we have been able to build an increasingly concentrated portfolio of companies that own what we believe to be some of the highest-return natural resource projects in the world and we are excited about the prospects for these companies to create value for our investors during the next cycle. We thank you, as always, for your patience and support. Best Regards, MacKenzie Davis, CFA Ken Settles, CFA This material represents an assessment of the market environment at a specific time and is not intended to be a forecast of future events or a guarantee of future results. Performance quoted represents past performance and does not guarantee future results. Portfolio holdings are subject to change and should not be considered a recommendation to buy or sell individual securities. This information should not be relied upon as research or investment advice regarding any security in particular. As with all mutual funds, the value of an investment in the Fund could decline so you could lose money. Investing in small and mid-size companies can involve risks such as having less publicly available information, higher volatility, and less liquidity than in the case of larger companies. Funds that concentrate investments in a certain sector may be subject to greater risk than funds that invest more broadly, as companies in that sector may share common characteristics and may react similarly to market developments or other factors affecting their values. Investments in companies in natural resources industries may involve risks including changes in commodities prices, changes in demand for various natural resources, changes in energy prices, and international political and economic developments. Foreign securities are subject to political, regulatory, economic, and exchange-rate risks not present in domestic investments. To the extent the Fund invests its assets in a more limited number of issuers than many other mutual funds, a decline in the market value of a particular security may affect the Fund s value more than if the Fund invested in a larger number of issuers. Any discussions of specific securities should not be considered a recommendation to buy or sell those securities. Fund holdings will vary. Except as otherwise specifically stated, all information and portfolio manager commentary, including portfolio security positions, are as of March 31, First Quarter 2016 Mutual Fund Commentary RS Global Natural Resources Fund 5

6 RS Funds are sold by Prospectus only. Before investing in any RS Fund, you should carefully consider the Fund s investment objectives, risks, and charges and expenses. To obtain a Fund s Prospectus and Summary Prospectus, which contain this and other important information, please call or visit The Prospectus and Summary Prospectus should be read carefully before investing or sending money. Sector Allocation 6 Top 10 Holdings 7 AS OF 3/31/16 AS OF 3/31/16 Energy 50.00% Materials 42.24% Utilities 0.00% Consumer Discretionary 0.00% Consumer Staples 0.00% Financials 0.00% Health Care 0.00% Industrials 0.00% Information Technology 0.00% Telecommunication Services 0.00% Cash 7.77% Turquoise Hill Resources Ltd % Sociedad Quimica Y Minera De Chile 10.19% S.A. Sponsored ADR Pfd Class B First Quantum Minerals Ltd. 7.86% Range Resources Corporation 5.55% Southwestern Energy Company 5.43% Cabot Oil & Gas Corporation 5.41% Antero Resources Corporation 4.73% Noble Energy, Inc. 4.57% Iluka Resources Limited 4.23% EOG Resources, Inc. 4.17% 1 The MSCI World Commodity Producers Index (MSCI-WCP) is an equity-based index designed to reflect the performance related to commodity producers stocks. The MSCI World Commodity Producers Index is a free float-adjusted marketcapitalization-weighted index comprised of commodity producer companies based on the Global Industry Classification Standard (GICS ). You may not invest in the index and, unlike the Fund, the index does not incur fees or expenses. 2 The S&P North American Natural Resources Sector Index is a modified cap-weighted index designed as a benchmark for U.S.-traded securities in the natural resources sector. The index includes companies involved in the following categories: extractive industries, energy companies, owners and operators of timber tracts, forestry services, producers of pulp and paper, and owners of plantations. Index results assume the reinvestment of dividends paid on the stocks constituting the index. You may not invest in the index and, unlike the Fund, the index does not incur fees or expenses. 3 The S&P 500 Index is an unmanaged marketcapitalization-weighted index generally considered to be representative of U.S. equity market activity. The index consists of 500 stocks representing leading industries of the U.S. economy. Index results assume the reinvestment of dividends paid on the stocks constituting the index. You may not invest in the index and, unlike the Fund, it does not incur fees and expenses. 4 The Bloomberg Commodity Index (BCOM) is a broadly diversified commodity price index that tracks prices of futures contracts on physical commodities on the commodity markets. The index currently represents 20 commodities, which are weighted to account for economic significance and market liquidity. 5 The S&P Global Natural Resources Sector Index includes 90 of the largest publicly traded companies in natural resources and commodities businesses that meet specific investability requirements, offering investors diversified and investable equity exposure across three primary commodity-related sectors: agribusiness, energy, and metals & mining. 6 The Fund s holdings are allocated to each sector based on their Global Industry Classification Standard (GICS ) classification. If a holding is not classified by GICS, it is assigned a GICS designation by SailingStone Capital Partners. Cash includes short-term investments and net other assets and liabilities. 7 Portfolio holdings are subject to change and should not be considered a recommendation to buy or sell individual securities. RS Funds are distributed by RS Funds Distributor LLC, member: FINRA, SIPC. NOT A DEPOSIT NOT FDIC OR NCUA INSURED MAY LOSE VALUE NO BANK OR CREDIT UNION GUARANTEE 2016 RS Investment Management Co. LLC R CO16Q1GNRF First Quarter 2016 Mutual Fund Commentary RS Global Natural Resources Fund 6