Weitz Funds N-CSRCertified annual shareholder report (management investment company)

UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

FORM N-CSR

CERTIFIED SHAREHOLDER REPORT OF REGISTERED

MANAGEMENT INVESTMENT COMPANIES

Investment Company Act file number 811-21410

The Weitz Funds

(Exact name of registrant as specified in charter)

1125 South 103 Street, Suite 200 Omaha, NE 68124-1071

(Address of principal executive offices) (Zip code)

Weitz Investment Management, Inc., 1125 South 103 Street, Suite 200, Suite. 200, Omaha, NE 68124-1071

(Name and address of agent for service)

Registrant’s telephone number, including area code: (402) 391-1980

Date of fiscal year end: March 31

Date of reporting period: March 31, 2022

Item 1. Reports to Stockholders.

2 2022 Annual Report

THE WEITZ PHILOSOPHY

Finding quality at a discount

There are no shortcuts in value investing. At Weitz, we dig for opportunities using a robust quality scoring process. We analyze hundreds of ideas to find strong, well-managed but undervalued companies that offer reasonable risk-adjusted returns. It’s simple – but it’s not easy. We do the due diligence, analyze, ask tough questions and push for answers. We wait for the right opportunities. Then, and only then, do we invest your money.

Fundamental Research-Driven Process

Our research-driven investment approach means deeply understanding our investable universe so we can capitalize on opportunities that arise out of market inefficiencies. Each of our analysts focuses on finding opportunities in specific industries, ensuring deep, ongoing research within their own areas of expertise. We also encourage a generalist mentality where all investment team members vet new ideas. All investment decisions are backed by thorough analysis, logical strategies, extensive debate and our team’s commitment to long-term growth.

Bottom-Up Focus

Our focus is on finding well-run companies with strong fundamentals and outstanding long-term prospects. Valuation is our North Star. When a security is selling at a significant discount to its intrinsic value, that’s when we buy. And when it’s not selling at a discount, we have the discipline and patience to wait for the price to come our way.

High-Conviction Investing

We believe there are a limited number of great investment ideas and that intrinsic value doesn’t change with the daily ebbs and flows of the market. Our high-conviction approach means we know what we own inside and out, allowing our funds to be highly concentrated.

Today we are responsible for approximately $4 billion in investments for our shareholders – individuals, corporations, pension plans, foundations and endowments. And our commitment remains the same: to put your goals first. Always. We do so through our expertise, our flexibility, and our drive to uncover investments that can help you preserve and grow wealth.

We’re right beside you

Weitz employees have a strong commitment of investing their own assets in our mutual funds. By aligning our goals with yours, you can have confidence that we’re treating your money as if it were our own.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

The management of Weitz Funds has chosen paper for the 84 page report from a paper manufacturer certified under the Sustainable Forestry Initiative ® standard.

Portfolio composition is subject to change at any time and references to specific securities, industries, and sectors referenced in this report are not recommendations to purchase or sell any particular security. Current and future portfolio holdings are subject to risk. See the Schedules of Investments included in this report for the percent of assets in each of the Funds invested in particular industries or sectors.

4 2022 Annual Report

VALUE MATTERS

April 1, 2022

Dear Clients and Fellow Shareholders,

The first quarter of 2022 was eventful.

Russia invaded Ukraine and the West imposed sanctions on Russia. Death and destruction in Ukraine and disruption of global financial and commodities markets followed. A near-term path to stopping the war is not in sight, and the longer-term implications for Vladimir Putin’s role in Russia and Russia’s place in the world are unclear.

Covid is still with us, although it has become generally less of a crisis for most. Infections, deaths, and travel restrictions have moderated, but supply chain disruptions have persisted. With luck, the worst is behind us, though our capacity to deal with a new, or renewed, public health crisis is uncertain.

Inflation has raised its ugly head and is unsettling the economy and our policymakers. The causes of inflation are complicated, but the old-school belief that “inflation is a product of too much money chasing too few goods” may be regaining ascendancy over the Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) idea that “deficits don’t matter.” Our base case is that over the next year or two, the inflation rate will settle into a range above the Fed’s 2% target but below the recently reported 8%. However, new pressures on agricultural and energy prices stemming from sanctions against Russia complicate the picture. Unfortunately, given lags in reporting and flaws in the construction of the Consumer Price Index itself, we may not know when or where the current spike actually peaks until well after the fact.

These are serious matters to real people as well as governments and businesses. We will be doing all we can to understand how these and other headline issues are affecting our companies and other potential investments. However, our interest is not in how these factors will affect stock prices day to day. We invest in businesses, and the value of a business is based on the cash it will generate for its owners over a very long period – decades. So we want to understand how the world will be different post-Covid and post-Russia/Ukraine. It is the longer-term evolution of the ways people live and work that our companies will have to adapt to.

Interest Rates and the Investment “Climate”

In our opinion, the most important investment event of the first quarter was related to the surge in inflation. That is the reversal of Fed policy and the first hike in the Fed Funds rate (the short-term interest rate that the Fed controls directly) since 2018. This change has been in the works for some time and has been well-telegraphed in hopes of keeping investors calm (generally an uphill battle).

For some historical context, from late 2008 through December 2015, the Fed maintained a zero interest rate policy (ZIRP) by holding the Fed Funds rate near 0% and using quantitative easing (QE), i.e., borrowing money to buy Treasuries and mortgage-backed securities, pushing bond prices up to keep yields low. These policies were originally designed to rescue the economy during the mortgage crisis in 2008. From December 2015 through 2018, the Fed slowly embarked on rate increases that finally reached 2.25%-2.50%. The Fed maintained this rate until July 31, 2019, when a series of three rate cuts ensued, ending in October 2019 with a 1.75% Fed Funds Rate. At the onset of the pandemic in 2020, the Fed doubled down on ZIRP to maintain liquidity in the capital markets. The Fed interventions of 2008 and 2020 were both necessary. During many of the intervening years, though, this stimulative policy was continued, arguably at times when it was not needed. The Fed apparently believed that the recovery from the Great Financial Recession was inadequate, and the logic was that cheap credit would encourage businesses to buy new plant and equipment to expand, and that low interest rates would push up the prices of consumers’ stock portfolios, making them feel richer and more inclined to buy more things (“wealth effect”).

As it happens, ZIRP’s impact on business expansion has not been so great, but it has succeeded in super-charging stock prices. With bonds and other fixed income securities yielding what felt like nothing, many conservative investors felt compelled to buy stocks. (Naturally, Wall Street had an acronym for this, too, TINA –There Is No Alternative.) As a result, stock prices have risen faster in recent years than their earnings per-share, so valuations as measured by price-to-earnings (P/E) ratios have risen faster than underlying business values.

For most of the time since the Fed first adopted ZIRP, inflation has been very low. In fact, the Fed thought a “little” inflation would be a good thing and hoped its stimulative policies would help get inflation up to 2%. (This seemed a little bizarre to those of us who experienced the inflation of the 1970s!)

In 2021, however, supply chain disruptions, shortages of various commodities, and a very tight labor market triggered a burst of inflation that reached 8% (the highest in 40 years) during the first quarter of 2022. At this point, the Fed realized it had over-achieved and began to float the idea of raising rates to fight inflation. Investors began to visualize the benchmark 10-year Treasury yield rising from under 1% to a more normal 4-5% or higher. (A few grizzled veterans probably remembered that in 1981, then-Fed Chair Paul Volcker raised short-term rates to 20% and long Treasuries yielded 14%.)

The specter of rising rates triggered the “stealth correction” that started around the middle of 2021. The first victims were young, fast-growing companies whose stocks were most vulnerable to rising rates. The declines went relatively unnoticed (unless you owned those stocks) because the major indexes were still setting new highs. As 2022 began, though, the market heavyweights began to slip, and their prices impacted the indexes. By late February, the S&P 500 had dropped 15% from its January high, and the Nasdaq had fallen 21%.

This market move was reminiscent of the 20% dip in the fourth quarter of 2018, the last time the Fed raised rates. On that occasion, the Fed quickly reversed course and, to invoke the words of Gilda Radner’s Saturday Night Live character Emily Litella, said “Never mind.” We are guessing that the Fed will follow through this time, at least for a few more quarters. After that, they will be “data dependent” (or perhaps “politics dependent”).

Fed policy is generally not a consideration in our investment process. Warren Buffett quipped years ago that if Alan Greenspan (Fed Chair, 1987-2006) whispered in his ear what the Fed’s next move would be, Warren wouldn’t do anything differently. We think that is good advice and the right attitude.

Today, though, we do think that something important has changed that will have a lasting impact. Business fundamentals are good now and will likely be favorable most years in the future, just as they were over most of the past 12 years. But the

2022 Annual Report 5

climate has changed. Zero interest rates and quantitative easing – ZIRP and QE – acted as tailwinds for stocks. Rising rates and quantitative tightening – selling off the bonds bought for QE – will likely act as headwinds for stocks. Higher bond yields pose stiffer competition for investors’ capital, so higher rates generally mean
lower P/E ratios.

Outlook
The transition to a tighter monetary regime has already caused the market to wobble, and we would expect more of the same, from time to time, as headlines rattle investors who have short investment horizons and who lack conviction in their holdings. The good news is that lots of stocks have already been marked down in anticipation of higher rates. The stocks in our portfolios are as cheap relative to their business values as they have been for some time. With stocks selling at more realistic prices, our opportunity set is much improved. Last quarter, we predicted that 2022 would be an “adventure.” We think that is still the case, and ultimately, we believe the adventure will create opportunities that can benefit our investors over the long run.

Sincerely,

Portfolio composition is subject to change at any time. Current and future portfolio holdings are subject to risk.

6 2022 Annual Report

FIXED INCOME INSIGHTS

April 1, 2022

The difficult market conditions fixed income investors experienced last year heated up in the first quarter. Heightened inflation risk produced a surge in interest rate and cross-asset volatility (volatility across multiple asset classes, including stocks, bonds, commodities, and currencies). Treasury yields rising (and periodically falling) by more than 10 basis points (0.10%) per day quickly shifted from what would otherwise seem unusual to ordinary. Bouts of positive correlation (returns moving in the same direction, up or down) between U.S. Treasuries and stocks served as a good reminder of how damaging inflation can be to investors.

As shown in the Bloomberg Index returns table here, the first quarter produced no safe havens. Longer duration indexes were the worst performers given their higher sensitivity to what remain low longer-term nominal levels of interest rates (rates before accounting for inflation) and deeply negative levels of real interest rates (rates adjusted for inflation). Given this backdrop, while negative returns are never welcome, we are quite pleased with the relative results that our investment process and flexible approach have yielded. For detail regarding individual fund performance and analysis, see our funds’ quarterly commentaries.

Inflation, Inflation, Inflation

By now, everyone has realized that inflation is high and spreading. Inflation is pervasive; it affects every corner of the U.S. economy – commodities, food, energy, housing/shelter, and wages. Even the Fed’s preferred measure of inflation, the Core Personal Consumption Expenditures (Core PCE) price index, which had a difficult time reaching 2% after the Great Financial Crisis, soared to 5.4% in February 2022.

What matters from here is how persistent inflation will be and how its ripple effect will be felt through the economy and financial markets. With pricing pressures broad-based and spread throughout a tight labor market, inflation is likely to remain well above the Fed’s long-term goal of 2% for quite some time. However, there is an old saying that the cure for high inflation is high inflation. In other words, high inflation may eventually result in demand destruction. The logic is simple: the more money spent on goods and services today, the less discretionary money there is to spend in the future. And the longer inflation remains elevated, the more likely the Fed is to tackle inflation rather than focusing on the risk of lower economic growth or recession.

A decisive policy response from central banks may result in a further hit to demand by raising the cost of capital (potentially abruptly) on consumers and businesses. Bigger picture, the U.S. economy remains highly leveraged, with total debt-to-GDP (gross domestic product) at an all-time high of over 350%. On the fiscal side, materially higher interest rates could lead to a higher portion of tax revenue being allotted to government bondholders, thereby squeezing the federal government’s budget and spending programs. It is a tough balancing act, but at some point, the focus may shift from coping with today’s high inflation to the consequences of much weaker economic growth in the future.

2022 Annual Report 7

The Fed and The Yield Curve

While no one knows what the new equilibrium for interest rates will be, the Fed is at the start of what may be one of the fastest hiking cycles in decades. Markets expect up to an additional 8 or 9 interest rate hikes in 2022, with the potential for the first 50 bps rate increase since 2000. If current expectations hold, the Fed Funds rate may end the year at 2.25-2.50%, matching the peak of the Fed’s last tightening cycle in 2016-2019. In the here and now, the Fed’s hawkish rhetoric has already created a material upward shift in the front end of the yield curve.

March 31, 2021, to March 31, 2022, the yield on the 2-year U.S. Treasury rose 218 basis points from 0.16% to 2.34% – a nearly 15-fold increase. On the other hand, the yields on the 10-year U.S. Treasury increased 60 basis points from 1.74% to 2.34% and the 30-year Treasury increased 4 basis points from 2.41% to 2.45%. This has resulted in a much flatter yield curve than is typical at the start of a rate hiking cycle. According to Deutsche Bank, since 1955 it has taken 23 months on average for the 2-year vs. 10-year U.S. Treasury to invert. Yet we experienced a brief 2-year vs. 10-year U.S. Treasury curve inversion in early April 2022 before reversing as longer-term yields rose.

Some Fed officials have been vocal about the need to set policy at restrictive levels (levels that are expected to inhibit economic growth). While one can argue the yield curve doesn’t represent true market pricing given the enormous presence of central banks, every recession in the last 70 years has only happened after the 2-year vs. 10-year U.S. Treasury curve inverted. While one can also argue about yield curve signaling, what is clear given the tightness of spreads is that credit markets are not currently concerned about potential negative effects from high inflation and/or tighter monetary policy.

Credit Spreads

Today, credit spreads reflect strong corporate liquidity positions and minimal concern about future credit weakness and defaults. While we agree fundamentals remain generally solid, there are plenty of reasons to be cautious. Fed tightening, high inflation, rising geopolitical tensions, removal of fiscal support, and tight labor markets are just some of the risk factors we see. While credit spreads widened during the first quarter, they remain below long-term averages. A broad measure of investment-grade corporate bond spreads, compiled by ICE BofA, increased to 122 basis points on March 31, 2022, from 98 basis points on December 31, 2021. The chart below depicts the path of investment-grade credit spreads for the past five years (blue line) against the one-year (orange) and five-year (green) averages.

High yield credit spreads experienced similar movement during the first quarter. A broad measure of U.S. high yield corporate bond spreads, compiled by ICE BofA, touched a high of 421 basis points before finishing at 343 basis points on March 31, 2022, up from 310 basis points on December 31, 2021.

Outlook

The first quarter was a good reminder that the future is not set in stone. As always, much can happen over the next nine months that may require a different path than what appears most conceivable today. Our overarching investment approach is to remain patient while utilizing our flexible mandate to seek out the best risk/reward opportunities available in the market. As the year progresses, the risk of a monetary policy error (too tight or too loose) is high, resulting in wider credit spreads. In the meantime, a disciplined approach of adding Treasuries, high-quality securitized products, and selective corporate bonds has enhanced the coupon income of our portfolios, which we hope will pave the way for better returns in the future.

Portfolio composition is subject to change at any time. Current and future portfolio holdings are subject to risk.

8 2022 Annual Report

DISCLOSURES

Data quoted is past performance and current performance may be lower or higher. Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Investment return and principal value of an investment will fluctuate, and shares, when redeemed, may be worth more or less than their original cost. All investments involve risks, including possible loss of principal. Please visit weitzinvestments.com for the most recent month-end performance.

Investment results reflect applicable fees and expenses and assume all distributions are reinvested but do not reflect the deduction of taxes an investor would pay on distributions or share redemptions. Certain Funds have entered into fee waiver and/or expense reimbursement arrangements with the Investment Advisor by which the Advisor has contractually agreed to waive a portion of the Advisor’s fee and reimburse certain expenses (excluding taxes, interest, brokerage costs, acquired fund fees and expenses and extraordinary expenses) to limit the total annual fund operating expenses of the Fund’s average daily net assets through Contractual Expiration Date of 07/31/2022 (and in the case of the Core Plus Fund Institutional Class, through 07/31/2023). If this arrangement had not been in place, the performance results would have been lower.

The net expense ratio reflects the total annual fund operating expenses of the Fund after taking into account any such fee waiver and/or expense reimbursement. Net and gross expense ratios are as of the Fund’s most recent prospectus.

Performance quoted for the Balanced, Partners Value and Value Funds’ Institutional Class shares before their inception is derived from the historical performance of the Investor Class shares, which have not been adjusted for the expenses of the Institutional Class shares, had they, returns would have been different.

Performance quoted for the Partners III Opportunity and Short Duration Income Funds’ Investor Class shares before their inception is derived from the historical performance of the Institutional Class shares, which have not been adjusted for the expenses of the Investor Class shares, had they, returns would have been different.

Index performance is hypothetical and is shown for illustrative purposes only. You cannot invest directly in an index. See page 78 for a description of all indices. All indices Since Inception return are since the Fund’s inception. The inception date of the Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate 1-3 Year Index and the Bloomberg 5-Year Municipal Bond Index was 12/31/1992 and 1/29/1988, respectively.

On 12/29/2006, the Nebraska Tax-Free Income Fund succeeded to substantially all of the assets of Weitz Income Partners Limited Partnership. On 12/31/1993, Partners Value Fund succeeded to substantially all of the assets of Weitz Partners II Limited Partnership. On 12/30/2005, Partners III Opportunity Fund succeeded to substantially all of the assets of Weitz Partners III Limited Partnership. The investment objectives, policies and restrictions of the Funds are materially equivalent to those of the Partnerships, and the Partnerships were managed at all times with full investment authority by the Investment Adviser. The performance information includes performance for the Partnerships. The Partnerships were not registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940 and, therefore, were not subject to certain investment or other restrictions or requirements imposed by the 1940 Act or the Internal Revenue Code. If the Partnerships had been registered under the 1940 Act, the Partnerships’ performance might have been adversely affected.

Effective 12/16/2016, the Ultra Short Government Fund revised its principal investment strategies. Prior to that date, the Fund operated as a “government money market fund” and maintained a stable net asset value of $1.00 per share. Performance prior to 12/16/2016 reflects the Fund’s prior principal investment strategies and may not be indicative of future performance results.

Effective 12/16/2016, the Short Duration Income Fund revised its principal investment strategies. Since that time the Fund has generally maintained an average effective duration between one to three and a half years. Prior to that date, the Fund maintained a dollar–weighted average maturity of between two to five years. Performance prior to 12/16/2016 reflects the Fund’s prior principal investment strategies and may not be indicative of future performance results.

Effective 03/29/2019, the Hickory Fund invests the majority of its assets in the common stock of medium–sized companies, which the Fund considers to be companies with a market capitalization, less than or equal to the market capitalization of the largest company in the Russell Midcap Index. Prior to that date, the Fund invested the majority of its assets in the common stock of smaller– and medium–sized companies, which the Fund considered to be companies with a market capitalization, at the time of initial purchase, of less than $10 billion.

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PERFORMANCE SUMMARY

Returns (%) as of 3/31/2022

*     Denotes the Fund's inception date and the date from which Since Fund Inception performance is calculated.

10 2022 Annual Report

ANALYST CORNER
Guidewire Software, Inc. (GWRE)
By Barton Hooper, CFA - Director of Equity Research

Guidewire Software, Inc. (GWRE) is a provider of software and data services to the property and casualty insurance (P&C) industry. The company’s products cover the three primary operational functions of an insurance provider: policy, billings and claims. Guidewire also offers data and analytics services that allow its customers to run their businesses more effectively. The company was founded in 2001 by a team that included current Chairman Marcus Ryu. It became a public company in 2012.

P&C insurance companies provide coverage on assets (cars, houses, etc.) as well as liability insurance for accidents and injuries. It is one of the oldest products in the financial services category, and due to the nature of the risks and leverage involved, the industry has an established history of conservative underwriting and investment practices. Of course, consumers of insurers appreciate a conservative approach; if your house has burned down you don’t want to find that your insurance company can’t pay the claim because it wrote too many policies or invested your premiums irresponsibly.

Unfortunately, this conservatism has often carried over to operations and customer service. P&C insurance companies have become prone to taking an “if-not-broken-don’t-fix-it” approach to the adoption of new processes and technologies. As a result, much of the insurance industry runs on very outdated technology which is costly to maintain and very inflexible. These systems are characterized by the famous “green screens” of mainframes (think early computing systems of the 1970s and 1980s). While still robust, these outdated systems offer little flexibility which means new products (such as different policy offerings to meet new risks, like cybersecurity) can take months or even years to come to market due to the need to finely customize ancient systems.

It is imperative that insurers upgrade their technology, and not just because they are running on old, expensive-to-maintain systems. An inability to fully understand risks increases instances of fraud, and not having a complete view of customer needs means being at risk of customer churn.

Insurance is unique among financial services in that, unlike other industries, insurers largely didn’t migrate toward outsourced processing where there is a collective advantage as processors compete and face pressure to innovate. While financial services lags other industries in terms of digital transformation, even banking (another area that heavily uses outdated tech) is considered ahead of the insurance category. Each insurer developed its own bespoke systems with complicated rules and customizations. As these systems aged and new customizations and extensions were stacked on top of prior ones, the cost in terms of money and lost time to market became more burdensome. Insurers needed a modernization solution. But until Guidewire arrived, most of these “fixes” consisted of highly customized solutions which took years (as everyone reinvented their own “wheel”) and didn’t always use the most modern technology.

The Guidewire founders believed they could upgrade the technology of the entire insurance industry by moving off mainframes and into modern programming languages running on industry-standard servers. The company started with its ClaimCenter product in 2003 and then developed PolicyCenter and BillingCenter in 2004 and 2006, respectively. Collectively, the company refers to this as the Guidewire InsuranceSuite which is targeted toward larger insurers. Through an acquisition in 2017, Guidewire offers smaller insurers a complete suite through its InsuranceNow product. Sales cycles were (and remain) long as prospective customers were reluctant to adopt new technology. It took Guidewire until 2011 to reach the 100-customer mark. By the end of the 2021 fiscal year, it had over 350 customers. Today, the company is the clear leader in providing insurance software, and the long sales cycles and conservative nature of the customer base provides an element of competitive advantage.

Although Guidewire software represents a step change in terms of modernity and flexibility, many customers have yet to adopt the company’s full suite across all operations. As a result, despite now being in business for over 20 years, there is still a large revenue pool available just in Guidewire’s existing client base. The company estimates that just over a quarter of P&C industry premiums written today use at least one of the Guidewire InsuranceSuite products. This somewhat underestimates the opportunity, as a client using ClaimCenter is counted as premium that has been “modernized,” but even with such a client, there is still an opportunity to adopt BillingCenter and PolicyCenter.

As software began “eating the world” (in the words of entrepreneur and software engineer Marc Andreessen), disrupting traditional industries around the world, and as consumption moved to cloud-based systems, the insurance industry was slow to demand a cloud solution. As a result, Guidewire focused on giving customers what they needed and were demanding. That is why Guidewire didn’t initially emphasize a cloud product, although it developed a version of the software that could be run on cloud computing services such as AWS and Microsoft Azure. While there were several early adopters of these cloud-based services, by 2018 Guidwire’s clients signaled a willingness to move to a more robust cloud solution.

One bottleneck to cloud adoption is that Guidewire’s customers, even as they adopted InsuranceSuite, insisted on heavy customization. Doing so meant that customers were repeating earlier mistakes, because they would slowly fall behind the latest release. This all stems from a belief within the insurance industry that IT systems represent a proprietary component of their offerings. In other industries this point of view has given way to an argument that software and IT infrastructure should be standardized as much as possible to allow for speed, low cost, and flexibility. Doing so allows for a focus on customer needs and innovation – regardless of the industry. Insurers are slowly coming around to this perspective, which is why there is a greater willingness to adopting cloud solutions as implementing a true cloud product means high levels of standardization and reliance on the software provider to build desired features that serve the entire customer base. This can be done because new features can be pushed to users more quickly because the code base is the same across customers.

In 2019, former Salesforce executive Mike Rosenbaum joined Guidewire as CEO, a move that heralded a significant shift in Guidewire’s development and approach to the cloud. Rosenbaum had a deep understanding of technology platforms and customers’ need for digital transformations. He set to work applying this knowledge to Guidewire’s opportunity. The company introduced the Guidewire Cloud platform with the Aspen release in spring of 2020. Aspen has been followed with a new release approximately every six months. Adoption of Guidewire Cloud has been measured but steady with 13 customers signing on in 2019, 26 in 2020, and 52 in 2021. Some of these customer wins are new to Guidewire, while others are current customers of Guidewire’s on-premise software who are moving at least part of their systems to Guidewire Cloud. We believe there is a substantial runway of customers who will move

2022 Annual Report 11

their current Guidewire implementations to the cloud, along with the large untapped base of insurers who have yet to move to any sort of modern software.

Guidewire has a substantial lead in terms of market share over its nearest competitors, Duck Creek Technologies (a public company) and Majesco (private). The success of Guidewire Cloud gives us confidence that the company will at least maintain its market share. While our investment doesn’t depend on Guidewire becoming a monopoly provider, we do believe the company’s shift to the cloud creates an opportunity to expand share. As more customers move to the cloud, Guidewire should see positive flywheel effects from the benefits of having the most customers on the same version of software with frequent updates. Customers will get more value from the software as features are added more quickly and they are able to better utilize the data Guidewire provides. Happy customers deriving more value should result in longer lifetime value and increased consumption of additional modules.

Guidewire’s stock price has yet to reflect the opportunity we believe lies ahead for the company. While there was uncertainty about the quality and acceptance of Guidewire Cloud, we believe those issues are mostly resolved as more customers sign up and systems integrators build practices which extend Guidewire’s sales and implementation reach ahead of its competitors. We acknowledge that there are open questions about execution and the pace of adoption, but our due diligence suggests Mr. Rosenbaum is a strong leader who has built a talented team focused on leveraging Guidewire’s advantages. While adoption is out of the company’s control, P&C insurers are just like companies in just almost every industry – they need to undergo digital transformations sooner rather than later or face serious trouble from competitors who have moved. This backdrop provides a long-term tailwind which we believe will grow Guidewire’s business value. As a result, Guidewire is a strong representative of the Weitz Quality at a Discount framework in action – a market leader with strong growth prospects, led by a team that has multiple opportunities for reinvestment. We believe these facts will result in strong forward returns for our clients.

As of 03/31/2022, the following portfolio company constituted a portion of the net assets of Balanced Fund, Hickory Fund, Partners III Opportunity Fund, Partners Value Fund, and Value Fund as follows:

• Duck Creek Technologies, Inc. (DCT): 0.0%, 0.0%, 0.0%, 0.0%, 0.0%

• Guidewire Software, Inc. (GWRE): 0.0%, 3.1%, 0.0%, 2.3%, 0.0%

• Salesforce, Inc. (CRM) 0.0%, 0.0%, 0.0%, 0.0%, 2.7%

Holdings are subject to change and may not be representative of the Fund's current or future investments.

Barton Hooper, CFA, joined Weitz Investment Management in 2007. Prior to joining the firm, he was a research analyst at Oak Value Capital Management and Trilogy Capital Management. Prior to his investment management experience, Barton worked at George K. Baum & Company and was a certified public accountant at Deloitte & Touche LLC. Barton has a bachelor's in accounting from the University of Missouri and an MBA from Washington University in St. Louis.

12 2022 Annual Report

BALANCED FUND
Portfolio Managers: Brad Hinton, CFA & Nolan Anderson
Investment Style: Conservative Allocation

The Balanced Fund’s Institutional Class returned -3.75% for the first quarter compared to -5.35% for the Morningstar Moderately Conservative Target Risk Index. For the fiscal year end March, 31, 2022, the Fund’s Institutional Class returned +5.15% compared to +0.36% for the Index.

Total returns well above inflation have helped our investors retain, and steadily build, wealth. Over a 10-year period, the Fund’s Institutional Class has returned +6.83% annualized compared to +5.66% for the index.

The crosswinds we discussed in recent quarters gathered intensity, to put it mildly, in the first quarter of 2022. Investors are facing a ground war in Europe, Broad-based and persistent inflation, a prominent shift in domestic monetary policy from easing to tightening, continued dysfunctional fiscal policy debates in Washington, and so on. Uncertainty is high. Given this set of conditions, the stock market has been reasonably resilient. Our companies are largely reporting solid financial results, at least so far, and they are adopting fluidly to rapidly evolving conditions.

Bond markets endured a challenging quarter as yields rose materially across the maturity spectrum (as yields rise, bond prices fall). For example, the 3-year Treasury yield more than doubled from 0.97% to 2.45% during the quarter. Here is the quarterly performance for three bond indexes – the markdowns are not for the faint of heart:

The Fund’s short-maturity collection of bonds fared much better, posting only modest negative returns. We stayed out of trouble through a combination of conservative duration positioning and targeted security selection. We are pleased that our bond ballast held firm and helped drive the Fund’s relative outperformance for the quarter and fiscal year. Most encouragingly, we are (finally!) able to reinvest principal and interest cash flows at higher yields.

Financial Stocks dominated the quarterly contributors’ list, paced by double-digit gains at Berkshire Hathaway and Markel. Aon plc, Charles Schwab, and Visa rounded out the top five contributors. Quarterly detractors included a trio of strong, multi-year winners (LabCorp, Thermo Fisher, and Accenture plc). While their stock prices may have gotten a little ahead of themselves late last year, the businesses are doing just fine. Liberty Broadband and Fortive were other notable detractors, and we added to both stocks at discounts to our value estimates.

The Fund’s equities delivered strong, mid-teens returns for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2022. Ten stocks generated returns above 25%, with broad sector representation across financial, health care, communication services, technology, consumer discretionary, and consumer staples, Aon plc, Berkshire Hathaway, and Charles Schwab were the Fund’s top contributors for the period. They were joined by familiar faces Alphabet and Microsoft, who have continued to grow earnings at scale and in all kinds of market weather.

Fidelity National Information Services (FIS) was the largest fiscal-year detractor. FIS has been our most disappointing investment in the Covid era, with the stock trading well below our average cost. The business itself has been relatively durable, but the stock certainly has not. While the core elements of our bullish thesis remain firmly intact, hindsight tells us that we could have waited for a better entry point. From today’s price which is what matters now, we think the risk/ reward balance is favorable. Other fiscal year detractors included broadband giant Comcast as well as industrial companies Fortive, Honeywell, and IDEX.

As stocks declined steeply mid-quarter, we rebalanced into equities by adding to a dozen existing positions at attractive prices. Examples included Liberty Broadband, Analog Devices, Roper Technologies, Fortive, and Vulcan Materials. We also trimmed a few stocks that traded above our business value estimates, most notably Charles Schwab and Diageo plc. While we did not add any new companies, our team has crafted and refined a robust actionable list over the past several years. The benefit to investors is that we have more, and better, choices as ideas compete for spots in the portfolio.

In fixed income, we added small layers of 2.5-year to 5.5-year Treasuries as yields rose. We also sprinkled in small individual positions in securitized auto debt from several different sponsors. Our overall fixed income positioning remained quite defensive, with high average credit quality (about 95% investment-grade) and duration of less than 2 years. As base rates and/ or spread rise, expect us to continue increasing risk exposure prudently and with due caution.

The Fund’s portfolio continues to evolve with market conditions. We own common equity stakes in 30 companies totaling 44.8% of net assets. High-yielding, hybrid securities represent another 2.4% of the Fund. Fixed income holdings include investment-grade corporate bonds (2.2%), securitized debt (11.9%), Treasury securities (30.0%), and cash equivalents (8.7%). we have plenty of capacity to lean into new opportunities as our team uncovers them.

We think the Fund remains well-positioned to provide long-term capital appreciation and capital preservation. The current income outlook also improved with the significant increase in interest rates. As always, we encourage investors to evaluate the strategy on a total-return basis over longer time horizons.

2022 Annual Report 13

All data as of 3/31/2022. Data quoted is past performance and current performance may be lower or higher. Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Investment return and principal value of an investment will fluctuate, and shares, when redeemed, may be worth more or less than their original cost. All investments involve risks, including possible loss of principal. Please visit weitzinvestments.com for the most recent month-end performance.

Investment results reflect applicable fees and expenses and assume all distributions are reinvested but do not reflect the deduction of taxes an investor would pay on distributions or share redemptions. The Fund has entered into fee waiver and/or expense reimbursement arrangements with the Investment Advisor by which the Advisor has contractually agreed to waive a portion of the Advisor’s fee and reimburse certain expenses (excluding taxes, interest, brokerage costs, acquired fund fees and expenses and extraordinary expenses) to limit the total annual fund operating expenses of the Fund’s average daily net assets through 07/31/2022. If this arrangement had not been in place, the performance results would have been lower. The net expense ratio reflects the total annual fund operating expenses of the Fund after taking into account any such fee waiver and/or expense reimbursement. Net and gross expense ratios are as of the Fund’s most recent prospectus.

Credit ratings are assigned to underlying securities utilizing ratings from a Nationally Recognized Statistical Rating Organization (NRSRO) such as Moody’s and Fitch, or other rating agencies and applying the following hierarchy: security is determined to be Investment Grade if it has been rated at least BBB- by one credit rating agency; once determined to be Investment Grade (BBB- and above) or Non-Investment Grade (BB+ and below) where multiple ratings are available, then the lowest rating is assigned. Mortgage-related securities issued and guaranteed by government-sponsored agencies such as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are generally not rated by rating agencies. Securities that are not rated do not necessarily indicate low quality. Ratings are shown in the Fitch scale (e.g., AAA). Ratings and portfolio credit quality may change over time. The Fund itself has not been rated by a credit rating agency.

Contributions to performance are based on actual daily holdings. Returns shown are the actual quarterly returns of the security.

Source (Fixed Income Attributes, Credit Quality, and Maturity Distribution): Bloomberg Analytics

Source (Top Performers, Bottom Performers): Statpro

See page 8 for additional performance disclosures. See page 78 for a description of all indices. See page 79 for a Glossary of Terms.

14 2022 Annual Report

CORE PLUS INCOME FUND
Portfolio Managers: Tom Carney, CFA & Nolan Anderson
Investment Style: Intermediate-Term Core Plus Bond

The Core Plus Income Fund’s Institutional Class returned -4.01% for the first quarter compared to a -5.93% return for the Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate Bond Index. For the fiscal year ended March 31, 2022, the Fund’s Institutional Class returned -1.67% compared to -4.15% for the index. Negative absolute results (unrealized mark-to-market declines) are never pleasant to report despite solid relative results. Longer-term results (3-, 5-, and 7-year) continue to outpace the index.

Inflationary pressures, which have been building for the past 12 months, showed no signs of abating in the first quarter. These pressures precipitated a large upward move in interest rates during the first quarter, particularly in short-term rates. For example, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) release in February showed prices increasing at an annualized reading of 7.5%. This resulted in an historic move upward in the 2-year Treasury rate, marking the biggest “shock” since October 1979, as measured by standard deviation of daily moves. The shock in 1979 happened to occur when then Fed Chairman Paul Volcker announced to the world a new policy framework to combat the inflation of the 1970s/early 1980s. Today’s board members at the Federal Reserve, which controls short-term interest rates by means of the Federal Funds Rate, had long dubbed the current inflation environment as “transitory” (not permanent). However, those same members now appear resolved to adjust monetary policy by raising short-term interest rates (possibly at each Fed meeting in 2022) and by slowly shrinking the Fed’s sizable balance sheet of approximately $9 trillion.

The repricing of interest rates, while unpleasant, has set the stage for more favorable forward returns. This can be seen in the Fund’s improved yield-to-worst (YTW) metric. As a reminder, YTW has historically been a reasonable predictor of forward returns. The Fund's YTW increased from 2.12% at year-end to 3.32% on March 31, 2022 - comparing favorable to the index's YTW of 2.90% at March 31.

Portfolio Positioning

The table below shows how we have allocated capital to various sectors over the past quarter and year. Since our goal is to invest in sectors that we believe offer the best risk-adjusted returns, our allocations may change significantly over time.

*Corporate CLOs are included in the ABS segment in the Fund’s schedule of investments but are additionally called out separately for the purposes of the discussion.

**High-Yield exposure (as of 3/31/2022) consists of investments in the Corporate, Corporate Convertible, ABS, and CMBS sectors.

Totals may be greater or less than 100% due to rounding.

The largest shifts in sector allocation during the quarter were an increase in U.S. Treasuries (+4.9%) and a decrease in corporate bonds (-5.6%). Our Treasury portfolio is well diversified with a broad range of maturities spanning 1-30 years. While real yields remain deeply negative, U.S. Treasuries can provide important liquidity and diversification benefits for our portfolio. Over our 7+ years managing the Fund, we have been willing to hold large amounts of Treasuries, particularly when we believe the risk/ reward in credit markets skews negative like it does today. Our corporate bond portfolio continued to shrink as we found fewer qualifying investments and saw better relative value in securitized products. In terms of overall portfolio metrics, average effective maturity increased to 7.3 years as of March 31, 2022, from 6.4 years as of December 31, 2021, and the average effective duration increased to 4.8 years from 4.5 years over the same timeframe. These measures provide a guide to the Fund’s interest rate sensitivity. A higher average effective maturity and longer average effective duration increase the Fund’s price sensitivity to changes in interest rates (either up or down).

Another portfolio attribute to re-highlight is the Fund’s investments in floating-rate securities (mainly middle-market CLOs and CRE CLOs). As of March 31, 2022, nearly 22% of Fund assets are represented by floating-rate securities. We don’t invest based on any wager that the Fed will raise short-term interest rates – as each investment is vetted based on its individual merits (relative risk/reward) and the expected future nominal return contributions each can make to the Fund. However, we believe the Fund’s exposure to floating rate investments will provide coupon income

2022 Annual Report 15

upside now that the Fed has decided to move away from its zero interest-rate policy (ZIRP) and has begun to raise (potentially meaningfully) short-term interest rates.

As of March 31, 2022, our high-yield exposure as a percent of net assets was 12.9%, down from 13.5% on December 31, 2021.

Top Quarterly Contributors

Top Quarterly Detractors

Fiscal Year Results

Our U.S. Treasury holdings were the primary detractor to performance during the fiscal year. In addition, asset-backed securities (ABS), agency and non-agency residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS), and select corporate bonds detracted from performance. Noteworthy positive contributors included the Fund’s floating rate segments (middle market and commercial real estate collateralized loan obligations) and select high-yield corporate bond investments.

Fund Strategy

Our approach consists primarily of investing in a diversified portfolio of high-quality bonds while maintaining an overall portfolio average duration of 3.5 to 7 years. Our goal is to capture attractive coupon income and potential price appreciation by investing in longer-duration and lower-quality bonds when attractively priced. We may invest up to 25% in fixed-income securities that are not considered investment-grade (such as high-yield and convertible bonds as well as preferred and convertible preferred stock) and we do so when we perceive the risk/reward characteristics to be favorable.

We do not, and will not, try to mimic any particular index as we construct our portfolio. We believe our flexible mandate and high-conviction portfolio will benefit investors over the long term. We utilize a bottom-up, research-driven approach and select portfolio assets one security at a time based on our view of opportunities in the marketplace. Our fixed income research is not dependent on, but often benefits from, the due diligence work our equity teammates conduct on companies and industries.

Overall, we strive to be adequately compensated for the risks assumed in order to maximize investment (or reinvestment) yield and to avoid making interest rate bets, particularly those that depend on interest rates going down. We have often maintained a lower duration profile than the index, particularly in very low-yield environments. Our shorter duration profile has benefited shareholders in periods of rising interest rates.

Maintaining a diversified portfolio and liquidity reserves is a key element of our risk management approach. As a result, we have not held back from owning U.S. Treasury bonds, and at times like now, ample cash reserves. We believe this approach has served clients well, particularly in extreme market environments like the pandemic brought upon us in March 2020.

16 2022 Annual Report

All data as of 3/31/2022. Data quoted is past performance and current performance may be lower or higher. Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Investment return and principal value of an investment will fluctuate, and shares, when redeemed, may be worth more or less than their original cost. All investments involve risks, including possible loss of principal. Please visit weitzinvestments.com for the most recent month-end performance.

Investment results reflect applicable fees and expenses and assume all distributions are reinvested but do not reflect the deduction of taxes an investor would pay on distributions or share redemptions. The Fund has entered into fee waiver and/or expense reimbursement arrangements with the Investment Advisor by which the Advisor has contractually agreed to waive a portion of the Advisor’s fee and reimburse certain expenses (excluding taxes, interest, brokerage costs, acquired fund fees and expenses and extraordinary expenses) to limit the total annual fund operating expenses of the Fund’s average daily net assets through 07/31/2022 (and in the case of the Institutional Class, through 07/31/2023). If this arrangement had not been in place, the performance results would have been lower. The net expense ratio reflects the total annual fund operating expenses of the Fund after taking into account any such fee waiver and/or expense reimbursement. Net and gross expenses ratios are as of the Fund’s most recent Prospectus.

See page 8 for additional performance disclosures. See page 78 for a description of all indices. See page 79 for a Glossary of Terms.

Credit ratings are assigned to underlying securities utilizing ratings from a Nationally Recognized Statistical Rating Organization (NRSRO) such as Moody’s and Fitch, or other rating agencies and applying the following hierarchy: security is determined to be Investment Grade if it has been rated at least BBB- by one credit rating agency; once determined to be Investment Grade (BBB- and above) or Non-Investment Grade (BB+ and below) where multiple ratings are available, then the lowest rating is assigned. Mortgage-related securities issued and guaranteed by government-sponsored agencies such as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are generally not rated by rating agencies. Securities that are not rated do not necessarily indicate low quality. Ratings are shown in the Fitch scale (e.g., AAA). Ratings and portfolio credit quality may change over time. The Fund itself has not been rated by a credit rating agency.

Source (Fixed Income Attributes, Credit Quality, and Maturity Distribution): Bloomberg Analytics

2022 Annual Report 17

HICKORY FUND
Portfolio Managers: Wally Weitz, CFA & Drew Weitz
Investment Style: Mid-Cap Value

The Hickory Fund returned -13.15% in the first quarter of 2022, compared to -5.68% for the Russell Midcap Index. For the fiscal year ended March 31, 2022, the Fund returned -3.87% compared to +6.92% for the index.

Portfolio returns for the quarter and fiscal year were disappointing on both a relative and absolute basis. Entering January, the investment backdrop was already challenging. Accelerating inflation coupled with a hawkish turn at the Federal Reserve forced investors to recalibrate their expectations. The uncertainty was further compounded by the outbreak of war in Europe. Already elevated energy prices spiked as importers of Russian oil and natural gas looked for alternative suppliers, pouring more fuel on the inflation fire as supply chains not yet healed from the pandemic came under further stress. By quarter-end, the indexes had recouped some of their intra-quarter declines, suggesting some market participants believed risks had begun to abate.

In our opinion, however, the near-term (at least) investment landscape remains fluid.

Our investment philosophy is centered on identifying high-quality businesses that we believe are growing in value and purchasing their shares at what we estimate are discounted prices. This approach necessitates a long-term perspective, measured over multiple years. Despite our long-term focus, we acknowledge our quarterly results were unsatisfactory and weighed down the fiscal year. Yet, despite these declines, we remain optimistic about our portfolio holdings, and we believe the underlying businesses are healthier than recent stock price action may appear. As several of our holdings became more attractively priced in our estimation, we’ve stepped in to buy. Most notably, this includes our new Gartner position as well as additions to CoStar Group and Dolby. At the end of the quarter, our portfolio traded at an estimated price-to-value ratio in the high 70s, suggesting a healthier outlook for forward returns compared to the low-to-mid 90s at the start of the fiscal year. The drawdown of stock prices and our trim and add actions both played a role in the more favorable forward-looking price-to-value ratio.

Our largest holding, Liberty Broadband (26% shareholder of Charter Communications), was a considerable detractor in both the quarter and fiscal year. The pandemic accelerated adoption of Charter’s broadband service as Americans sheltered at home, but as the country reopens, customer additions have naturally slowed. At the same time, competitors have announced lofty, multi-year targets for competitive wireless broadband offerings and expansions of fiber-optic service. Nevertheless, we think Charter still has a strong hand, including a network that’s already in place and can be affordably upgraded to remain competitive with fiber and its own fast-growing mobile offering that is taking share from incumbents in their core wireless business. Another silver lining: share repurchases at these lower prices can also accelerate growth in Charter’s per-share value.

CarMax was also a two-time offender, proving to be a detractor in both the quarter and fiscal year. In the first year of the pandemic, shares more than doubled as supply chain disruptions limited the ability of automakers to deliver new vehicles to the market, pushing prospective buyers into the secondary market and sending the prices of used vehicles soaring. As we close the second year of the pandemic, demand for used vehicles remains high, but dealers’ inventories remain tight. And as inflation’s reach has broadened (importantly to include gasoline), investors are concerned with consumers’ ability to pay ever-higher prices for used vehicles. In the short term, unit volumes may be volatile, but it’s important to note that CarMax’s business model of targeting a consistent level of cash profit per vehicle sold helps insulate earnings from a decline in prices. Looking longer term, we remain optimistic that CarMax’s investments in its omnichannel (in-store, online or hybrid) buying experience, combined with national scale, positions them for success in the future. The remaining top-five detractors for the quarter were Axalta, LKQ and Black Knight, while Liberty Latin America, Qurate Retail and MarketAxess finish off the fiscal year’s top-five detractors.

Markel was the lone standout performer for the quarter. Insurers typically benefit from a strong economy, as pricing tends to improve and the volume of risk to be insured grows. We also expect higher interest rates to translate into higher investment income as insurers recycle premium “float” into higher-yielding securities. The Fund’s new position in Gartner also provided a modest lift. Gartner is a leading provider of subscription-based research services to IT and business professionals (i.e., C-suite executives). Gartner’s business model is enviable: expert analysts create research reports that are then syndicated to subscribing clients. Analysts are also made available to clients for consultations. This one-to-many model allows clients to gain access to what otherwise may be cost-prohibitive research and critical business intelligence. Meanwhile, Gartner can invest back into additional research capabilities and still earn a very healthy margin.

AutoZone was the Fund’s top fiscal year contributor. The market forces of higher prices and scarce supply of new or used vehicles led owners to invest more in the maintenance of their vehicles. LKQ’s recycled auto parts business similarly benefited, making it a contributor for the fiscal year. Markel’s strong quarter propelled it to be the second-greatest contributor for the fiscal year, while telecom services firm LICT and aggregates supplier Martin Marietta round out the top contributors.

18 2022 Annual Report

All data as of 3/31/2022. Data quoted is past performance and current performance may be lower or higher. Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Investment return and principal value of an investment will fluctuate, and shares, when redeemed, may be worth more or less than their original cost. All investments involve risks, including possible loss of principal. Please visit weitzinvestments.com for the most recent month-end performance.

Investment results reflect applicable fees and expenses and assume all distributions are reinvested but do not reflect the deduction of taxes an investor would pay on distributions or share redemptions. The Fund has entered into fee waiver and/or expense reimbursement arrangements with the Investment Advisor by which the Advisor has contractually agreed to waive a portion of the Advisor’s fee and reimburse certain expenses (excluding taxes, interest, brokerage costs, acquired fund fees and expenses and extraordinary expenses) to limit the total annual fund operating expenses of the Fund’s average daily net assets through 07/31/2022. If this arrangement had not been in place, the performance results would have been lower. The net expense ratio reflects the total annual fund operating expenses of the Fund after taking into account any such fee waiver and/or expense reimbursement. Net and gross expense ratios are as of the Fund’s most recent prospectus.

See page 8 for additional performance disclosures. See page 78 for a description of all indices. See page 79 for a Glossary of Terms.

Contributions to performance are based on actual daily holdings. Returns shown are the actual quarterly returns of the security.

Source (Top Performers, Bottom Performers): Statpro

Source (Capitalization): RIMES

2022 Annual Report 19

NEBRASKA TAX-FREE INCOME FUND
Portfolio Manager: Tom Carney, CFA
Investment Style: Municipal-State Bond

The Nebraska Tax-Free Income Fund returned -3.95% in the first quarter compared to a -5.10% return for the Bloomberg 5-Year Municipal Bond Index. For the fiscal year ended March 31, 2022, the Fund’s total return was -3.08% compared to a -4.48% return for the index. Negative absolute results (unrealized mark-to-market declines) are never pleasant to report despite the solid relative results. While the past quarter’s unrealized decline/ markdown was undesirable, we believe it has set the stage for more favorable forward returns. The Fund’s increased yield-to-worst (YTW) highlights the improved forward potential, with YTW increasing from 0.8% at year-end to 2.0% as of March 31, 2022. As a reminder, YTW has historically been a reasonable predictor of forward returns.

Overview

Inflationary pressures, which have been building for the past 12 months, showed no signs of abating in the first quarter. These pressures precipitated a large upward move in interest rates during the first quarter, particularly in short-term rates. For example, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) release in February showed prices increasing at an annualized reading of 7.5%. This resulted in an historic move upward in the 2-year Treasury rate, marking the biggest “shock” since October 1979, as measured by standard deviation of daily moves. The shock in 1979 happened to occur when then Fed Chairman Paul Volcker announced to the world a new policy framework to combat the inflation of the 1970s/early 1980s. Today’s board members at the Federal Reserve, which controls short-term interest rates by means of the Federal Funds Rate, had long dubbed the current inflation environment as “transitory” (not permanent). However, those same members now appear resolved to adjust monetary policy by raising short-term interest rates (possibly at each Fed meeting in 2022) and by slowly shrinking the Fed’s sizable balance sheet of approximately $9 trillion.

The fixed-income markets reacted to the policy shift by re-pricing the yield curve in anticipation of a meaningful Fed tightening cycle. The yield on the 2-year Treasury ended the quarter at 2.3%, up more than 3X from year-end. Since the Great Financial Crisis (GFC) of 2008/2009, the 2-year Treasury has rarely ended a quarter above 2% (only 5 other observances) and has averaged less than 1% since the Fed embarked on its first iteration of zero-interest policy (ZIRP).

The dramatic increases in U.S. Treasury bond yields pulled prices for most other fixed income asset classes lower in the first quarter, including municipal bonds. In addition, municipal bonds meaningfully underperformed Treasuries as yield ratios of municipal bonds relative to comparable U.S. Treasuries moved dramatically higher. This Municipal/Treasury ratio (M/T ratio), which is now below its 10-year average, measures the relative attractiveness of tax-free municipal bonds; all else equal, the higher the ratio, the more appealing municipal bonds become, given their tax-advantaged status. For example, the ratio of the 5-year AAA-rated municipal bond to the 5-year Treasury increased from 46% on December 31, 2021, to 81% on March 31, 2022.

Historically Challenging First Quarter

Treasury bond price declines and poor relative performance of the municipal bond market resulted in the lowest first quarter returns for the municipal bond market since 1980 and ranks among the four worst overall quarters in the same timeframe. Typically, first quarters have been favorable for municipal bond performance, driven primarily by a positive supply-demand dynamic that is particularly felt in January and February, helped by heavy redemptions and relatively low supply; and net issuance tends to be negative early on in most years. As a result, first-quarter returns tend to be positive and have been negative less than 20% of the time, as illustrated in the charts below.

20 2022 Annual Report

Potentially Brighter Outlook
Borrowing the phrase “it’s always darkest before the dawn,” and certainly realizing history is a very imperfect guide – after a negative first quarter, performance for municipal bonds has tended to be positive for the remainder of a year.

*Represents total returns for the three quarters following a negative performance in 1Q.

Source: Bloomberg Fixed Income Indices.

Data time range: 1/1/1980- 3/31/2022

Top Quarterly Contributors

• No segment generated positive results in the quarter.

Top Quarterly Detractors – every segment detracted from results in the quarter. Notable examples include:

• School district general obligation bonds issued by Sarpy County; Bellevue, Nebraska, Public Schools; Papillion-La Vista, Nebraska, School District; and Wayne County, Nebraska, School District.

• Tax supported lease revenue bonds issued by Omaha, Nebraska; Public Facilities Corporation; and Gretna, Nebraska, certificates of participation.

• Higher education revenue bonds issued by Nebraska State College Facilities Corporation, and University of Nebraska Facilities Corporation (Health Center and College of Nursing Projects).

• Combined utility revenue bonds issued by Municipal Energy Agency of Nebraska, and Columbus Combined Revenue.

• General revenue bonds issued by Boys Town Village.

• Electricity and public power revenue bonds issued by Nebraska Public Power District and Public Power Generation Agency, Nebraska, Whelan Energy Center.

 Fiscal Year Performance
For the fiscal year, nearly all segments contributed to negative Fund results. Largest declining segments included school district, tax supported lease revenue, higher education, general revenue, and electricity and public power bonds. Two segments contributed positively to fiscal year results – certain government and ad valorem lease revenue bonds.

Portfolio Metrics
Turning to portfolio metrics, the average effective duration of the Fund was unchanged in the quarter at 3.6 years on March 31, 2022. Average effective maturity was also unchanged at 3.6 years on March 31. Overall asset quality remains high, with approximately 92% rated A or better by one or more of the nationally recognized statistical rating organizations.

See the following page for additional details regarding the breakdown of our holdings. Our investments are broad, and they are all backed by a consistent philosophy: we strive to own only those investments we believe compensate us for the incremental credit risk. Our overall goal is to invest in a portfolio of bonds of varying maturities that we believe offer attractive risk-adjusted returns, taking into consideration the general level of interest rates and the credit quality of each investment.

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All data as of 3/31/2022. Data quoted is past performance and current performance may be lower or higher. Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Investment return and principal value of an investment will fluctuate, and shares, when redeemed, may be worth more or less than their original cost. All investments involve risks, including possible loss of principal. Please visit weitzinvestments.com for the most recent month-end performance.

Investment results reflect applicable fees and expenses and assume all distributions are reinvested but do not reflect the deduction of taxes an investor would pay on distributions or share redemptions. The Fund has entered into fee waiver and/or expense reimbursement arrangements with the Investment Advisor by which the Advisor has contractually agreed to waive a portion of the Advisor’s fee and reimburse certain expenses (excluding taxes, interest, brokerage costs, acquired fund fees and expenses and extraordinary expenses) to limit the total annual fund operating expenses of the Fund’s average daily net assets through 07/31/2022. If this arrangement had not been in place, the performance results would have been lower. The net expense ratio reflects the total annual fund operating expenses of the Fund after taking into account any such fee waiver and/or expense reimbursement. Net and gross expense ratios are as of the Fund’s most recent prospectus.

See page 8 for additional performance disclosures. See page 78 for a description of all indices. See page 79 for a Glossary of Terms.

Credit ratings are assigned to underlying securities utilizing ratings from a Nationally Recognized Statistical Rating Organization (NRSRO) such as Moody’s and Fitch, or other rating agencies and applying the following hierarchy: security is determined to be Investment Grade if it has been rated at least BBB- by one credit rating agency; once determined to be Investment Grade (BBB- and above) or Non-Investment Grade (BB+ and below) where multiple ratings are available, then the lowest rating is assigned. Ratings are shown in the Fitch scale (e.g., AAA). Ratings and portfolio credit quality may change over time. The Fund itself has not been rated by a credit rating agency.

Income from municipal securities is generally free from federal taxes and state taxes for residents of the issuing state. While the interest income is tax-free, capital gains, if any, will be subject to taxes. Income for some investors may be subject to the federal Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT).

Source (Fixed Income Attributes, Credit Quality, and Maturity Distribution): Bloomberg Analytics

22 2022 Annual Report

PARTNERS III OPPORTUNITY FUND
Portfolio Managers: Wally Weitz, CFA & Drew Weitz
Investment Style: Multi-Cap Alternative

The Partners III Opportunity Fund’s Institutional Class returned -5.09% in the first quarter of 2022 compared with -4.60% for the S&P 500 and -5.28% for the Russell 3000. For the fiscal year ended March 31, 2022, the Fund returned -0.53% compared to +15.65% for the S&P 500 and +11.92% for the Russell 3000.

The year began with a cloudy investment outlook that only grew more tumultuous during the first quarter. The Omicron wave of Covid-19 cases peaked in early January, but global supply chains are far from healthy. By the end of 2021, supply shortages combined with sustained, massive monetary and fiscal stimulus had already stoked the flames of inflation. Anticipating a hawkish shift at the Federal Reserve, investors began the year repricing assets for a higher interest rate environment. The outbreak of war in Ukraine brought senseless death and destruction, injecting further disruption to global markets. Energy prices surged further as importers of Russian oil and natural gas sought alternative supply. Market conditions remain dynamic, and although markets have recovered a portion of their intra-quarter drawdown, we anticipate further volatility ahead.

Fund performance in the quarter was broadly in line with the indexes. For the fiscal year, portfolio prices in aggregate treaded water while the broader indexes moved higher. This stock price performance is disappointing on a relative basis, but we are encouraged by the progress of the underlying businesses we own. When our business value estimates grow despite stagnant stock prices, we believe the outlook for future performance improves. Today, our long equity portfolio is trading at an estimated price-to-value ratio in the low 80s, down from the low 90s a year ago. Of course, returns don’t come on a fixed schedule, but due to price drawdowns and our trims and adds to stocks, the portfolio is more attractively priced than a year ago.

The quarter’s standout performers were a pair of insurers, Berkshire Hathaway (our largest holding) and Markel. Insurers typically benefit from a strong economy, as pricing tends to improve and the volume of risk to be insured grows. We also expect higher interest rates to translate into higher investment income as insurers recycle premium “float” into higher-yielding securities. Both Berkshire and Markel possess terrific management and top marks as opportunistic capital allocators. Shares of Charles Schwab and Visa produced modestly positive returns, effectively winning by not losing. Amazon.com’s stock was down modestly in the quarter, but opportunistic purchases helped the position contribute positively to the Fund. Berkshire and Markel were also at the top of the tables for the fiscal year. Joining them were Google parent Alphabet, Aon and Charles Schwab. All three returned roughly 30% in the first nine months of the fiscal year and outperformed in the first quarter (also mostly by not losing).

A trio of companies (Facebook parent Meta Platforms, CoreCard, and CarMax) appear in our top detractor tables for the quarter and fiscal year. Changes to Apple’s mobile operating system have temporarily impacted growth of Meta’s advertising business just as the company’s investments in Instagram’s “Reels” feature ramp ahead of full monetization. (Shareholders can read research analyst Jon Baker’s in-depth discussion of current events impacting Meta and reasons why we’re optimistic about the company in our recent Analyst Corner feature on our website.) CoreCard (formerly Intelligent Systems) struggled early in the fiscal year to hire and train staff to handle growth from new and existing clients. Lately, Apple-related headlines also took a bite out of CoreCard shares, as reports suggest Apple is exploring a transition of its credit card and other financial services to internally built solutions. Such a move would create revenue headwinds for its partners, which CoreCard is widely believed to be. We are monitoring these developments and stress-testing our model accordingly. Shares of CarMax have declined as tight used car supply and the increasingly negative impact of inflation may dent the used car dealer’s volumes in the near term. Looking longer-term, however, we remain optimistic that CarMax’s investments in its omnichannel (in-store, online or hybrid) buying experience, combined with national scale, positions them for success in the future. Liberty Broadband and Liberty SiriusXM round out the list of quarterly detractors, while Fidelity National Information Services (FIS) and Dun & Bradstreet complete the fiscal year table of detractors.

Our index short positions against ETFs tracking market indexes provided helpful ballast during the first quarter drawdown but were otherwise detractors for the fiscal year. During the quarter, we covered roughly 20% of our S&P 500 short and 50% of our Nasdaq 100 short at progressively lower prices. Among our long equities, we added materially to high-conviction holdings Amazon.com, CoStar Group, CarMax and Meta Platforms while trimming Berkshire, Markel, Charles Schwab and all our remaining shares of Aon on strength. We also sold nearly half of our remaining, modest holdings of Qurate common equity, but we retain a more material exposure to Qurate’s 8% preferred shares. As of quarter-end, our effective long exposure stood at 95% and effective short exposure at 15%, resulting in an effective net long of 80% of net assets (as compared to 98% gross long, 22% gross short and 76% net long as of December 31, 2021).

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All data as of 3/31/2022. Data quoted is past performance and current performance may be lower or higher. Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Investment return and principal value of an investment will fluctuate, and shares, when redeemed, may be worth more or less than their original cost. All investments involve risks, including possible loss of principal. Please visit weitzinvestments.com for the most recent month-end performance.

Investment results reflect applicable fees and expenses and assume all distributions are reinvested but do not reflect the deduction of taxes an investor would pay on distributions or share redemptions. Net and gross expense ratios are as of the Fund’s most recent prospectus.

See page 8 for additional performance disclosures. See page 78 for a description of all indices. See page 79 for a Glossary of Terms.

Contributions to performance are based on actual daily holdings. Returns shown are the actual quarterly returns of the security.

Source (Top Performers, Bottom Performers): Statpro

Source (Capitalization): RIMES

24 2022 Annual Report

PARTNERS VALUE FUND
Portfolio Managers: Wally Weitz, CFA, Brad Hinton, CFA & Drew Weitz
Investment Style: Multi-Cap Value

The Partners Value Fund’s Institutional Class returned -8.68% for the first quarter compared to -4.60% for the S&P 500 and -5.28% for the Russell 3000. For the fiscal year ended March 31, 2022, the Fund’s Institutional Class returned +4.35% compared to +15.65% for the S&P 500 and +11.92% for the Russell 3000.

It was a challenging and disappointing start to the year for the Fund. The crosswinds we discussed in recent quarters gathered intensity, to put it mildly. Investors are facing a ground war in Europe, broad-based and persistent inflation, a prominent shift in domestic monetary policy from easing to tightening, continued dysfunctional fiscal policy debates in Washington, and so on. Uncertainty is high. Given this set of conditions, the stock market has been reasonably resilient.

Businesses are generally reporting solid financial results, at least so far, and they are adapting fluidly to rapidly evolving conditions. Our company value estimates are mostly steady or increasing, with a few notable exceptions. Their stock prices are another story. Seventeen of the Fund’s positions endured double-digit price declines in the quarter. While Meta Platforms – formerly Facebook – was the highest-profile detractor, most of the markdowns were concentrated in our mid-cap holdings.

When we combine lower stock prices with stable-to-higher business values, the outlook for future returns brightens. Of course, we need to be right about our value estimates, and macro risks to earnings are elevated, to be sure. Still, our team estimates that the portfolio trades at a price-to-value in the low 80s, which provides a healthy cushion against near-term forecasting errors. As valuation-sensitive investors, we like our hand.

Berkshire Hathaway, Markel, Aon plc, Charles Schwab, and Visa were the Fund’s largest quarterly contributors. These financial stocks served as life rafts in otherwise choppy market waters. Meta Platforms, CarMax, Liberty Broadband, Axalta Coating Systems, and LKQ were the Fund’s largest quarterly detractors. But the bigger story is the long tail of detractors that further impacted quarterly results. In insurance parlance, frequency was as relevant as severity. The silver lining is that we think these declines will prove to be temporary rather than permanent.

The Fund’s financial stocks delivered exceptional fiscal year gains. Berkshire Hathaway, Aon plc, Charles Schwab, and Markel joined familiar face Alphabet as top contributors. Each posted robust returns on hefty position sizes, driving strong “slugging percentages” for the portfolio. We trimmed our Schwab and Aon holdings as their stocks traded near our value estimates. This activity reflected our valuation discipline, which is to, as the old saying goes, methodically “sell the dear and buy the cheap” to improve the Fund’s return potential.

CarMax, Meta Platforms, Liberty Latin America, CoStar Group, and MarketAxess Holdings were the Fund’s largest fiscal-year detractors. CarMax, Meta, and CoStar are among our highest conviction positions, and we added to each during the quarter at attractive prices. Liberty Latin America has a “whippy” (frequently changing direction) stock that is often more volatile than the revenues and margins of the underlying business. And while our value estimate for MarketAxess declined considerably, our thesis and the company’s critical role in electronic bond trading for the next decade remain intact.

We added a new position in Gartner as tech-adjacent stocks continued their fall from grace during the quarter. Gartner is the leading provider of subscription-based research services to IT and business professionals (think C-suite executives, among others). The company has an attractive “create once, sell many times” business model that should sound familiar to long-time Fund investors. While Gartner does not scream “cheap” on current earnings, we are drawn to the company’s durability, business momentum, and extended glide path of capital-light, double-digit revenue, and cash flow growth potential.

We believe that investing in businesses of all sizes, using our Quality at a Discount framework, is an enduring advantage of a multi-cap strategy. Recent mid-cap additions such as Gartner, AutoZone, Dun & Bradstreet, First Republic Bank, HEICO, IDEX, and MarketAxess align with our collective vision for a successful “go anywhere” equity portfolio. If 2022’s early volatility continues, we think active managers with a broad mandate will have even more opportunities to add value and earn their keep.

Valuation remains our North Star, and we think our stocks are reasonably priced. Business value growth has been solid and generally encouraging. As mentioned, our current estimate is that the portfolio trades at a price-to-value in the mid-80s – a level that suggests ample long-term return potential from both our mid-and large-cap holdings.

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All data as of 3/31/2022. Data quoted is past performance and current performance may be lower or higher. Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Investment return and principal value of an investment will fluctuate, and shares, when redeemed, may be worth more or less than their original cost. All investments involve risks, including possible loss of principal. Please visit weitzinvestments.com for the most recent month-end performance.

Investment results reflect applicable fees and expenses and assume all distributions are reinvested but do not reflect the deduction of taxes an investor would pay on distributions or share redemptions. The Fund has entered into fee waiver and/or expense reimbursement arrangements with the Investment Advisor by which the Advisor has contractually agreed to waive a portion of the Advisor’s fee and reimburse certain expenses (excluding taxes, interest, brokerage costs, acquired fund fees and expenses and extraordinary expenses) to limit the total annual fund operating expenses of the Fund’s average daily

net assets through 07/31/2022. If this arrangement had not been in place, the performance results would have been lower. The net expense ratio reflects the total annual fund operating expenses of the Fund after taking into account any such fee waiver and/or expense reimbursement. Net and gross expense ratios are as of the Fund’s most recent prospectus. .

See page 8 for additional performance disclosures. See page 78 for a description of all indices. See page 79 for a Glossary of Terms.

Contributions to performance are based on actual daily holdings. Returns shown are the actual quarterly returns of the security.

Source (Top Performers, Bottom Performers): Statpro

Source (Capitalization): RIMES

26 2022 Annual Report

SHORT DURATION INCOME FUND
Portfolio Managers: Tom Carney, CFA & Nolan Anderson
Investment Style: Short-Term Bond

The Short Duration Income Fund’s Institutional Class returned -1.77% in the first quarter compared to a 2.50% return for the Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate 1-3 Year Index. For the fiscal year ended March 31, 2022, the Fund’s Institutional Class returned -1.41% compared to a -2.91% return for the index. Negative absolute results (unrealized mark-to-market declines) are never pleasant to report, despite the solid relative results. Longer-term results (3-, 5-, and 10-year) continue to outpace the index.

Inflationary pressures, which have been building for the past 12 months, showed no signs of abating in the first quarter. These pressures precipitated a large upward move in interest rates during the first quarter, particularly in short-term rates. For example, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) release in February showed prices increasing at an annualized reading of 7.5%. This resulted in an historic move upward in the 2-year Treasury rate, marking the biggest “shock” since October 1979, as measured by standard deviation of daily moves. The shock in 1979 happened to occur when then Fed Chairman Paul Volcker announced to the world a new policy framework to combat the inflation of the 1970s/early 1980s. Today’s board members at the Federal Reserve, which controls short-term interest rates by means of the Federal Funds Rate, had long dubbed the current inflation environment as “transitory” (not permanent). However, those same members now appear resolved to adjust monetary policy by raising short-term interest rates (possibly at each Fed meeting in 2022) and by slowly shrinking the Fed’s sizable balance sheet of approximately $9 trillion.

The fixed-income markets reacted to the policy shift by re-pricing the yield curve in anticipation of a meaningful Fed tightening cycle. The yield on the 2-year Treasury, a reasonable benchmark rate for the investment environment of our Short Duration Income Fund, ended the quarter at 2.3%, more than triple where it was at year-end. Since the Great Financial Crisis (GFC) of 2008/2009, the 2-year Treasury has rarely ended a quarter above 2% (only five other observances) and has averaged less than 1% since the Fed embarked on its first iteration of zero interest-rate policy (ZIRP).

As mentioned in the opening paragraph, while this quarter’s unrealized decline/markdown has been unpleasant, it has set the stage for more favorable forward returns. An example of that can be seen in the chart below which provides a quarter-end view of the yield curve for the U.S. investment grade corporate bond market as compared to year-end 2021. The chart also shows a 5-year and post-GFC median.

The far-left portion of the chart reflecting the 1–3-year segment highlights the improved forward return prospects that are squarely within the purview of our Short Duration Income Fund. By design, the Fund has a distinct feature of having about a quarter of its holdings paydown or mature in any given year. This allows us to reinvest proceeds into today’s improved forward-return environment. Part of this improvement (outside of the quarter’s unrealized mark-to-market declines) can be seen in the Fund’s improved yield-to-worst (YTW) metric. As a reminder, YTW has historically been a reasonable predictor of forward returns. The Fund’s YTW increased from 1.44% at year-end to 2.72% on March 31, 2022 – comparing favorably to the index’s YTW of 2.40% as of March 31.

Portfolio Positioning

The table below shows the change in allocation to various sectors, from the prior quarter and from the prior year. This summary provides a view over time of how we have allocated capital. Since our goal is to invest in sectors that we believe offer the best risk-adjusted returns, our allocations may change significantly over time.

*Corporate CLOs are included in the ABS segment in the Fund’s schedule of investments but are additionally called out separately for the purposes of the discussion.

**High-Yield exposure (as of 03/31/2022) consists of investments in the Corporate, Corporate Convertible, ABS and CMBS sectors.

Investment activity remained strong in the first quarter as we sourced approximately $120 million of new investments for the Fund. This helped offset the typical (and by-design) feature of monthly/quarterly paydowns and maturities of securities (approximately $80 million in the first quarter). As mentioned, about a quarter of the Fund’s holdings paydown or mature in any given year allowing us to frequently reinvest investor capital into areas of the fixed-income market that we believe provide the best current relative value opportunities. While this continuous reinvestment has been an occasional headwind as rates have fallen to near-historic lows in recent years, we believe it will provide return upside when interest rates, particularly short-term rates, move higher as has been the case so far in 2022.

Noteworthy additions in the first quarter included:

2022 Annual Report 27

In terms of overall portfolio metrics, from December 31, 2021, to March 31, 2022, average effective maturity increased from 2.8 to 3.1 years, and average effective duration stayed steady at 1.6 years. These measures provide a guide to the Fund’s interest rate sensitivity. A higher average effective maturity and longer average effective duration increase the Fund’s price sensitivity to changes in interest rates (either up or down). Another portfolio attribute to re-highlight is the Fund’s investments in floating-rate securities (mainly middle-market CLOs and CRE CLOs). As of March 31, 2022, more than 23% of Fund assets are represented by floating-rate securities. We don’t invest based on any wager that the Fed will raise short-term interest rates – as each investment is vetted based on its individual merits (relative risk/ reward) and the expected future nominal return contributions each can make to the Fund. However, we believe the Fund’s exposure to floating rate investments will provide coupon income upside now that the Fed has decided to move away from its zero interest-rate policy (ZIRP) and has begun to raise (potentially meaningfully) short-term interest rates.

Top Quarterly Detractors

Top Quarterly Contributors

Fiscal Year Results

Fiscal year results were negatively impacted by the Fund’s U.S. Treasury; agency and non-agency residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS); asset-backed securities (ABS); and select corporate bond investments (e.g., FS KKR and Ares Capital). Noteworthy positive contributors included the Fund’s floating rate segments (middle market and commercial real estate collateralized loan obligations) and select corporate bond investments (e.g., Redwood Trust, EPR Properties, Starwood Property Trust, and iStar Inc.).

Fund Strategy

Our approach consists primarily of investing in a diversified portfolio of high-quality bonds while maintaining an overall portfolio average effective duration of 1.0 to 3.5 years. We may invest up to 15% in fixed-income securities that are not considered investment-grade (such as high-yield and convertible bonds as well as preferred and convertible preferred stock), and we do so when we perceive the risk/reward characteristics to be favorable.

We do not, and will not, try to mimic any index as we construct our portfolio. We believe our flexible mandate is a differentiator that allows us to navigate any environment – particularly today’s environment of challenging returns. We utilize a bottom-up, research-driven approach and select portfolio assets one security at a time based on our view of opportunities in the marketplace. Our fixed income research is not dependent on, but often benefits from, the due diligence efforts our equity teammates conduct on companies and industries.

Overall, we strive to be adequately compensated for the risks assumed while seeking to maximize investment (or reinvestment) income and avoid making interest-rate bets, particularly ones that depend on interest rates going down.

Maintaining a diversified portfolio and liquidity reserves is a key element of our risk management approach. We believe this approach has served clients well, particularly in extreme market environments like the pandemic brought upon us last March.

Our goals remain the same. Namely (a) preserve capital, (b) maintain a strong liquidity position, (c) understand evolving risks and opportunities, (d) conduct consistent/thorough credit surveillance, and (e) selectively take advantage of favorable risk/ reward opportunities. We remain ready to take advantage of any further valuation disparities that may develop and hope to continue to earn your trust.

28 2022 Annual Report

All data as of 03/31/2022. Data quoted is past performance and current performance may be lower or higher. Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Investment return and principal value of an investment will fluctuate, and shares, when redeemed, may be worth more or less than their original cost. All investments involve risks, including possible loss of principal. Please visit weitzinvestments.com for the most recent month-end performance.

Investment results reflect applicable fees and expenses and assume all distributions are reinvested but do not reflect the deduction of taxes an investor would pay on distributions or share redemptions. The Fund has entered into fee waiver and/or expense reimbursement arrangements with the Investment Advisor by which the Advisor has contractually agreed to waive a portion of the Advisor’s fee and reimburse certain expenses (excluding taxes, interest, brokerage costs, acquired fund fees and expenses and extraordinary expenses) to limit the total annual fund operating expenses of the Fund’s average daily net assets through 07/31/2022. If this arrangement had not been in place, the performance results would have been lower. The net expense ratio reflects the total annual fund operating expenses of the Fund after taking into account any such fee waiver and/or expense reimbursement. Net and gross expense ratios are as of the Fund’s most recent prospectus.

See page 8 for additional performance disclosures. See page 78 for a description of all indices. See page 79 for a Glossary of Terms.

Credit ratings are assigned to underlying securities utilizing ratings from a Nationally Recognized Statistical Rating Organization (NRSRO) such as Moody’s and Fitch, or other rating agencies and applying the following hierarchy: security is determined to be Investment Grade if it has been rated at least BBB- by one credit rating agency; once determined to be Investment Grade (BBB- and above) or Non-Investment Grade (BB+ and below) where multiple ratings are available, then the lowest rating is assigned. Mortgage-related securities issued and guaranteed by government-sponsored agencies such as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are generally not rated by rating agencies. Securities that are not rated do not necessarily indicate low quality. Ratings are shown in the Fitch scale (e.g., AAA). Ratings and portfolio credit quality may change over time. The Fund itself has not been rated by a credit rating agency.

Source (Fixed Income Attributes, Credit Quality, and Maturity Distribution): Bloomberg Analytics

2022 Annual Report 29

ULTRA SHORT GOVERNMENT FUND

Portfolio Managers: Tom Carney, CFA & Nolan Anderson Investment Style: Ultra-Short-Term Bond

The Ultra Short Government Fund returned +0.02% in the first quarter compared to a -0.09% return for the ICE BofAML US 6-Month Treasury Bill Index (6-Month Treasury). For the fiscal year ended March 31, 2022, the Fund returned +0.01% compared to a -0.05% return for the index.

Overview
The Federal Reserve raised short-term interest rates for the first time in over three years in the first quarter of 2022 and telegraphed more increases to the Fed Funds rate this year. By raising short-term interest rates in March, the Fed ended the two-year long (and second installment of) the monetary policy often dubbed ZIRP (zero interest-rate policy). Long suffering “savers” (e.g., bank savings accounts, CDs, and investors in ultra-short investments like this Fund) who have had to endure many years of ZIRP since its inception post the Great Financial Crisis of 2008/2009 will not shed a tear as short-term interest rates move off the zero bound. Many investors would arguably be pleased
to see the ZIRP acronym relegated to the dustbin of history. Whether ZIRP becomes a topic for history books or is revisited sometime in the future, short-term investors will cheer the likely improved returns in 2022.

The Federal Reserve’s monetary policy decisions (e.g., changes in short-term interest rates) will continue to affect all investments within our opportunity set. As a result, our yield and return will invariably follow the path dictated by the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy, as we frequently reinvest maturities with holdings that mature in a short period of time. As of March 31, 2022, 81.6% of our portfolio was invested in U.S. Treasury notes, 6.5% in investment-grade asset-backed securities, and 11.9% in cash and cash equivalents. The average effective duration declined to 0.2 years on March 31 from 0.3 years on December 31, 2021. The Fund’s 30-day yield increased approximately 17 basis points in the quarter to 0.24% as of March 31. Given that the Fed appears resolved to continue raising short-term interest rates (possibly at each of their 6 remaining meetings in 2022), the Fund’s 30-day yield will likely increase in the months and quarters to follow as we re-invest maturing investments at likely more favorable levels.

Under normal market conditions, the Fund will invest at least 80% of its net assets in obligations issued or guaranteed by the U.S. government and its government-related entities. The balance of Fund assets may be invested in U.S. investment-grade debt securities. Additionally, the Fund will maintain an average effective duration of one year or less. Duration is a measure of how sensitive the portfolio may be to changes in interest rates. All else being equal, a lower-duration bond portfolio is less sensitive to changes in interest rates than a bond portfolio with a higher duration. Over time, this shorter-term focus (duration of less than one year) is intended to generate higher total returns than cash or money market funds, while also taking less interest rate risk than a bond portfolio with a higher duration.

The Fund’s principal investment strategies and objectives of providing current income, protecting principal and providing liquidity remain our primary goals. While the Fund’s current income will likely remain pressured (i.e. drift lower) by the current ultra-low nominal reinvestment environment, we believe we can continue to add value via security selection in the U.S. investment-grade debt segment. Protecting principal and providing liquidity will always come first, however, in managing the Fund on behalf of shareholders.

30 2022 Annual Report

All data as of 3/31/2022. Data quoted is past performance and current performance may be lower or higher. Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Investment return and principal value of an investment will fluctuate, and shares, when redeemed, may be worth more or less than their original cost. All investments involve risks, including possible loss of principal. Please visit weitzinvestments.com for the most recent month-end performance.

Investment results reflect applicable fees and expenses and assume all distributions are reinvested but do not reflect the deduction of taxes an investor would pay on distributions or share redemptions. The Fund has entered into fee waiver and/or expense reimbursement arrangements with the Investment Advisor by which the Advisor has contractually agreed to waive a portion of the Advisor’s fee and reimburse certain expenses (excluding taxes, interest, brokerage costs, acquired fund fees and expenses and extraordinary expenses) to limit the total annual fund operating expenses of the Fund’s average daily net assets through 07/31/2022. If this arrangement had not been in place, the performance result would have been lower. The net expense ratio reflects the total annual fund operating expenses of the Fund after taking into account any such fee waiver and/or expense reimbursement. Net and gross expense ratios are as of the Fund’s most recent prospectus.

See page 8 for additional performance disclosures. See page 78 for a description of all indices. See page 79 for a Glossary of Terms.

Credit ratings are assigned to underlying securities utilizing ratings from a Nationally Recognized Statistical Rating Organization (NRSRO) such as Moody’s and Fitch, or other rating agencies and applying the following hierarchy: security is determined to be Investment Grade if it has been rated at least BBB- by one credit rating agency; once determined to be Investment Grade (BBB- and above) or Non-Investment Grade (BB+ and below) where multiple ratings are available, then the lowest rating is assigned. Ratings are shown in the Fitch scale (e.g., AAA). Ratings and portfolio credit quality may change over time. The Fund itself has not been rated by a credit rating agency.

Source (Fixed Income Attributes, Credit Quality, and Maturity Distribution): Bloomberg Analytics

2022 Annual Report 31

VALUE FUND
Portfolio Manager: Brad Hinton, CFA
Investment Style: Large-Cap Value

The Value Fund’s Institutional Class returned -7.96% for the first quarter compared to -4.60% for the S&P 500 and -5.13% for the Russell 1000. For the fiscal year ended March 31, 2022, the Fund’s Institutional Class returned +8.80% compared to +15.65% for the S&P 500 and +13.27% for the Russell 1000.

The crosswinds we discussed in recent quarters gathered intensity, to put it mildly, in the first quarter of 2022. Investors are facing a ground war in Europe, broad-based and persistent inflation, a prominent shift in domestic monetary policy from easing to tightening, continued dysfunctional fiscal policy debates in Washington, and so on. Uncertainty is high. Given this set of conditions, the stock market has been reasonably resilient. Our companies are generally reporting solid financial results, at least so far, and they are adapting fluidly to rapidly evolving conditions.

Zooming out, the Fund enjoyed three exceptional years (09/2018 to 09/2021) of absolute and relative returns, which were followed by two sub-par quarters. Some of the recent shortfall has been due to sector allocation, as we owned no energy and had too much exposure to communication services. Some has been due to untimely security selection, as we owned a few pockets of the “wrong” stocks.

Quarterly trends come and go, and we’ll see how durable some of them prove to be. For example, the energy sector posted gains of nearly 50% since last fall, after several years of awful returns. Energy stocks are heavily influenced by commodity prices – the businesses often do not earn acceptable returns on capital through cycles – and we simply do not have a research edge in that area. We don’t lose sleep over missing out on those short-term windfalls.

Our steadfast focus is on business analysis and stock picking. Here the news has remained mostly favorable, with a few exceptions. Return gaps between winners and losers have been wide of late. We welcome the dispersion, which should play to the strengths of our Quality at a Discount investing approach. If we are right more often than we are wrong, and the good quarters outnumber the bad, higher differentiation should benefit Fund investors over time.

Berkshire Hathaway, Aon plc, Charles Schwab, and Visa were the Fund’s largest quarterly contributors. We trimmed positions in three of the four stocks near our value estimates. Meta Platforms, CarMax, Liberty Broadband, and CoStar Group were the Fund’s largest quarterly detractors. We bought more shares of each at wide discounts to our value estimates. Our trading behavior followed our price discipline, which rarely results in instant gratification. Instead, as the old saying goes, our methodical approach is to “sell the dear and buy the cheap” to help set the table for future returns.

The Fund’s financial stocks also delivered exceptional fiscal year gains, rewarding patience and discipline. Alphabet, Aon plc, Berkshire Hathaway, Charles Schwab, and Danaher were the largest fiscal year contributors. Each posted returns of more than 30% on hefty position sizes, driving strong “slugging percentages” for the portfolio. With a concentrated strategy, one key to long-term success is being right – over the long haul – on our largest positions.

Meta Platforms, formerly Facebook, did not meet this standard over the past 12 months. The severe drawdown in Meta’s stock was frustrating, and we could have managed position size more adeptly. Research analyst Jon Baker provided a fresh look at the company and our investment thesis in a recent Analyst Corner feature on our website. While the stock is likely to remain volatile, we think it is now priced to deliver what may be exceptional returns over time.

Other fiscal-year detractors included Fidelity National Information Services (FIS), CarMax, CoStar Group, and Liberty Broadband. FIS has been our most disappointing investment in the Covid era. Unlike Meta, the stock trades well below our average cost. The business itself has been relatively durable, but the stock certainly has not. While the core elements of our bullish thesis remain firmly intact, hindsight tells us that we could have waited for a better entry point. From today’s stock price, which is what matters now, we think the risk/reward balance is favorable. Likewise, we estimate that CarMax, CoStar Group, and Liberty Broadband are among the Fund’s most heavily discounted holdings, and we added to our positions in each.

As bank stocks rallied early in the first quarter, we sold the Fund’s JPMorgan Chase holdings at a substantial profit. We also added a new position in Gartner as tech-adjacent stocks continued their fall from grace. Gartner is the leading provider of subscription-based research services to IT and business professionals (think C-suite executives, among others). The company has an attractive “create once, sell many times” business model that should sound familiar to long-time Fund investors. While Gartner does not scream “cheap” on current earnings, we are drawn to the company’s durability, business momentum, and extended glide path of capital-light, double-digit revenue, and cash flow growth potential.

The portfolio is focused and well-aligned with our vision for successful large-cap investing. We have concentrated ownership stakes in 27 companies, with the top ten representing 47% of the portfolio. Each position is significant enough to matter, yet none can individually make or break our results. Our current estimate is that the portfolio trades at a price-to-value in the mid-80s. We believe that more core holdings now have a chance for healthy gains over a multi-year period. Others are priced for adequate return potential primarily from expected growth in per-share business value.

32 2022 Annual Report

All data as of 3/31/2022. Data quoted is past performance and current performance may be lower or higher. Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Investment return and principal value of an investment will fluctuate, and shares, when redeemed, may be worth more or less than their original cost. All investments involve risks, including possible loss of principal. Please visit weitzinvestments.com for the most recent month-end performance.

Investment results reflect applicable fees and expenses and assume all distributions are reinvested but do not reflect the deduction of taxes an investor would pay on distributions or share redemptions. The Fund has entered into fee waiver and/or expense reimbursement arrangements with the Investment Advisor by which the Advisor has contractually agreed to waive a portion of the Advisor’s fee and reimburse certain expenses (excluding taxes, interest, brokerage costs, acquired fund fees and expenses and extraordinary expenses)

to limit the total annual fund operating expenses of the Fund’s average daily net assets through 07/31/2022. If this arrangement had not been in place, the performance results would have been lower. The net expense ratio reflects the total annual fund operating expenses of the Fund after taking into account any such fee waiver and/or expense reimbursement. Net and gross expense ratios are as of the Fund’s most recent prospectus.

See page 8 for additional performance disclosures. See page 78 for a description of all indices. See page 79 for a Glossary of Terms.

Contributions to performance are based on actual daily holdings. Returns shown are the actual quarterly returns of the security.

Source (Top Performers, Bottom Performers): Statpro

Source (Capitalization): RIMES

2022 Annual Report 33

BALANCED FUND
Schedule of Investments
March 31, 2022

The accompanying notes form an integral part of these financial statements.

34 2022 Annual Report

BALANCED FUND (CONTINUED)
Schedule of Investments
March 31, 2022