Summary Prospectus | February 1, 2020

DWS Core Equity Fund

Class/Ticker A SUWAX T SUWUX C SUWCX R SUWTX R6 SUWZX INST SUWIX S SCDGX

Before you invest, you may want to review the fund’s prospectus, which contains more information about the fund and its risks. You can find the fund’s prospectus, reports to shareholders, Statement of Additional Information (SAI) and other information about the fund online at dws.com/mutualpros. You can also get this information at no cost by e-mailing a request to service@dws.com, calling (800) 728-3337 or asking your financial representative. The Prospectus and SAI, both dated February 1, 2020, as supplemented, are incorporated by reference into this Summary Prospectus.

Beginning on January 1, 2021, as permitted by regulations adopted by the Securities and Exchange Commission, paper copies of the fund’s annual and semi-annual shareholder reports will no longer be sent by mail, unless you specifically request paper copies of the reports. Instead, the reports will be made available on the fund’s Web site (dws.com), and you will be notified by mail each time a report is posted and provided with a Web site link to access the report.

If you already elected to receive shareholder reports electronically, you will not be affected by this change and you need not take any action. You may elect to receive shareholder reports and other communications from the fund electronically anytime by contacting your financial intermediary (such as a broker-dealer or bank), or if you are a direct investor, by calling (800) 728-3337 or sending an email request to service@dws.com.

You may elect to receive all future reports in paper free of charge. If you invest through a financial intermediary, you can contact your financial intermediary to request that you continue to receive paper copies of your shareholder reports. If you invest directly with the fund, you can call (800) 728-3337 or send an email request to service@dws.com to continue receiving paper copies of your shareholder reports. Your election to receive reports in paper will apply to all funds held in your account if you invest through your financial intermediary or all funds held with DWS if you invest directly with the fund.

Investment Objective

The fund seeks long-term growth of capital, current income and growth of income.

Fees and Expenses

These are the fees and expenses you may pay when you buy and hold shares. You may be required to pay commissions and/or other forms of compensation to a broker for transactions in Class S shares, which are not reflected in the tables or the example below. You may qualify for sales charge discounts if you and your immediate family

invest, or agree to invest in the future, at least $50,000 in Class A shares in DWS funds or if you invest at least $250,000 in Class T shares in the fund. More information about these and other discounts and waivers is available from your financial representative and in Choosing a Share Class in the prospectus (p. 38), Sales Charge Waivers and Discounts Available Through Intermediaries in the prospectus (Appendix B, p. 97) and Purchase and Redemption of Shares in the fund’s SAI (p. II-14).

SHAREHOLDER FEES (paid directly from your investment)

	A	T	C	R	R6	INST	S
Maximum sales charge (load) imposed on purchases, as % of offering price	5.75	2.50	None	None	None	None	None
Maximum deferred sales charge (load), as % of redemption proceeds1	None	None	1.00	None	None	None	None
Account Maintenance Fee (annually, for fund account balances below $10,000 and subject to certain exceptions)	$20	None	$20	None	None	None	$20

ANNUAL FUND OPERATING EXPENSES
(expenses that you pay each year as a % of the value of your investment)

	A	T	C	R	R6	INST	S
Management fee	0.35	0.35	0.35	0.35	0.35	0.35	0.35
Distribution/service (12b-1) fees	0.23	0.25	1.00	0.49	None	None	None
Other expenses	0.26	0.22	0.25	0.41	0.14	0.20	0.22
Total annual fund operating expenses	0.84	0.82	1.60	1.25	0.49	0.55	0.57

¹ Investments of $1,000,000 or more may be eligible to buy Class A shares without a sales charge (load), but may be subject to a contingent deferred sales charge of 1.00% if redeemed within 12 months of the original purchase date and 0.50% if redeemed within the following six months.

 

1

EXAMPLE

This Example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the fund with the cost of investing in other mutual funds. The Example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the fund for the time periods indicated and then redeem all of your shares at the end of those periods. The Example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the fund's operating expenses remain the same. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:

Years	A	T	C	R	R6	INST	S
1	$656	$332	$263	$127	$50	$56	$58
3	828	505	505	397	157	176	183
5	1,014	694	871	686	274	307	318
10	1,553	1,238	1,900	1,511	616	689	714

You would pay the following expenses if you did not redeem your shares:

Years	A	T	C	R	R6	INST	S
1	$656	$332	$163	$127	$50	$56	$58
3	828	505	505	397	157	176	183
5	1,014	694	871	686	274	307	318
10	1,553	1,238	1,900	1,511	616	689	714

PORTFOLIO TURNOVER  

The fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover may indicate higher transaction costs and may mean higher taxes if you are investing in a taxable account. These costs are not reflected in annual fund operating expenses or in the expense example, and can affect the fund's performance. During the most recent fiscal year, the fund’s portfolio turnover rate was 39% of the average value of its portfolio.

Principal Investment Strategies

Main investments. Under normal circumstances, the fund invests at least 80% of total assets, determined at the time of purchase, in equities, mainly common stocks. For purposes of this 80% investment limitation, the term total assets is defined as net assets, plus the amount of any borrowings for investment purposes. Although the fund can invest in companies of any size and from any country, it invests primarily in large US companies. Portfolio management may favor securities from different industries and companies at different times.

Management process. In choosing stocks, portfolio management uses proprietary quantitative models to identify and acquire holdings for the fund. The quantitative models are research based and identify primarily fundamental factors, including valuation, momentum,

profitability, earnings and sales growth, which have been effective sources of return historically. These are dynamic models with different factor weights for different industry groupings. The fund’s portfolio is constructed based on this quantitative process that strives to maximize returns while maintaining a risk profile similar to the fund’s benchmark index.

Portfolio management may sell a security when its quantitative model indicates that other investments are more attractive, when the company no longer meets performance or risk expectations, or to maintain portfolio characteristics similar to the fund’s benchmark.

All investment decisions are made within risk parameters set by portfolio management. The factors considered and models used by portfolio management may be adjusted from time to time and may favor different types of securities from different industries and companies at different times.

Portfolio management may consider information about Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) issues in its fundamental research process and when making investment decisions.

Securities lending. The fund may lend securities (up to one-third of total assets) to approved institutions, such as registered broker-dealers, banks and pooled investment vehicles.

Main Risks

There are several risk factors that could hurt the fund’s performance, cause you to lose money or cause the fund’s performance to trail that of other investments. The fund may not achieve its investment objective, and is not intended to be a complete investment program. An investment in the fund is not a deposit of a bank and is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other governmental agency.

Stock market risk. When stock prices fall, you should expect the value of your investment to fall as well. Stock prices can be hurt by poor management on the part of the stock’s issuer, shrinking product demand and other business risks. These may affect single companies as well as groups of companies. The market as a whole may not favor the types of investments the fund makes, which could adversely affect a stock’s price, regardless of how well the company performs, or the fund’s ability to sell a stock at an attractive price. There is a chance that stock prices overall will decline because stock markets tend to move in cycles, with periods of rising and falling prices. Events in the US and global financial markets, including actions taken by the US Federal Reserve or foreign central banks to stimulate or stabilize economic growth, may at times result in unusually high market volatility which could negatively affect performance. Further, geopolitical and other events, including war, terrorism, economic uncertainty, trade disputes and related geopolitical events have led, and in the future may lead, to increased short-term market

2 DWS Core Equity Fund

Summary Prospectus    February 1, 2020

volatility, which may disrupt securities markets and have adverse long-term effects on US and world economies and markets. To the extent that the fund invests in a particular geographic region, capitalization or sector, the fund’s performance may be affected by the general performance of that region, capitalization or sector.

Security selection risk. The securities in the fund’s portfolio may decline in value. Portfolio management could be wrong in its analysis of industries, companies, economic trends, the relative attractiveness of different securities or other matters.

Quantitative model risk. The fund’s strategy relies heavily on quantitative models and the analysis of specific metrics to construct the fund’s portfolio. The impact of these metrics on a stock’s performance can be difficult to predict, and stocks that previously possessed certain desirable quantitative characteristics may not continue to demonstrate those same characteristics in the future. In addition, relying on quantitative models entails the risk that the models themselves may be limited or incorrect, that the data on which the models rely may be incorrect or incomplete, and that the Advisor may not be successful in selecting companies for investment or determining the weighting of particular stocks in the fund’s portfolio. Any of these factors could cause the fund to underperform funds with similar strategies that do not select stocks based on quantitative analysis.

Medium-sized company risk. Medium-sized company stocks tend to be more volatile than large company stocks. Because stock analysts are less likely to follow medium-sized companies, less information about them is available to investors. Industry-wide reversals may have a greater impact on medium-sized companies, since they lack the financial resources of larger companies. Medium-sized company stocks are typically less liquid than large company stocks.

Focus risk. To the extent that the fund focuses its investments in particular industries, asset classes or sectors of the economy, any market price movements, regulatory or technological changes, or economic conditions affecting companies in those industries, asset classes or sectors may have a significant impact on the fund’s performance.

Securities lending risk. Any decline in the value of a portfolio security that occurs while the security is out on loan is borne by the fund and will adversely affect performance. Also, there may be delays in recovery of securities loaned or even a loss of rights in the collateral should the borrower of the securities fail financially while holding the security.

Counterparty risk. A financial institution or other counterparty with whom the fund does business, or that underwrites, distributes or guarantees any investments or contracts that the fund owns or is otherwise exposed to, may decline in financial health and become unable to

honor its commitments. This could cause losses for the fund or could delay the return or delivery of collateral or other assets to the fund.

Liquidity risk. In certain situations, it may be difficult or impossible to sell an investment and/or the fund may sell certain investments at a price or time that is not advantageous in order to meet redemption requests or other cash needs. Unusual market conditions, such as an unusually high volume of redemptions or other similar conditions could increase liquidity risk for the fund.

Pricing risk. If market conditions make it difficult to value some investments, the fund may value these investments using more subjective methods, such as fair value pricing. In such cases, the value determined for an investment could be different from the value realized upon such investment’s sale. As a result, you could pay more than the market value when buying fund shares or receive less than the market value when selling fund shares.

ESG investing risk. When portfolio management considers ESG factors in its fundamental research process and when making investment decisions, there is a risk that the fund may forgo otherwise attractive investment opportunities or increase or decrease its exposure to certain types of issuers and, therefore, may underperform funds that do not consider ESG factors.

Operational and technology risk. Cyber-attacks, disruptions, or failures that affect the fund’s service providers or counterparties, issuers of securities held by the fund, or other market participants may adversely affect the fund and its shareholders, including by causing losses for the fund or impairing fund operations.

Past Performance

How a fund's returns vary from year to year can give an idea of its risk; so can comparing fund performance to overall market performance (as measured by an appropriate market index). Past performance may not indicate future results. All performance figures below assume that dividends and distributions were reinvested. For more recent performance figures, go to dws.com (the Web site does not form a part of this prospectus) or call the telephone number included in this prospectus.

The performance figures for Class T shares prior to class inception are based on the historical performance of the fund’s Class S shares adjusted to reflect the higher expenses and applicable sales charges of Class T.

The performance figures for Class R shares prior to class inception are based on the historical performance of the fund’s Class S shares adjusted to reflect the higher expenses of Class R shares.

Prior to May 31, 2013, the fund had a sub-advisor and a different investment management team that operated with a different investment strategy. Performance would have been different if the fund’s current investment strategy had been in effect.

3 DWS Core Equity Fund

Summary Prospectus    February 1, 2020

CALENDAR YEAR TOTAL RETURNS (%) (Class A)

These year-by-year returns do not include sales charges, if any, and would be lower if they did. Returns for other classes were different and are not shown here.

	Returns	Period ending
Best Quarter	13.48%	March 31, 2019
Worst Quarter	-17.35%	September 30, 2011

Average Annual Total Returns
(For periods ended 12/31/2019 expressed as a %)

After-tax returns (which are shown only for Class A and would be different for other classes) reflect the historical highest individual federal income tax rates, but do not reflect any state or local taxes. Your actual after-tax returns may be different. After-tax returns are not relevant to shares held in an IRA, 401(k) or other tax-advantaged investment plan.

	Class Inception	1 Year	5 Years	10 Years
Class A before tax	8/2/1999	22.50	9.98	12.33
After tax on distributions		21.11	7.92	10.75
After tax on distributions and sale of fund shares		14.31	7.48	9.83
Class T before tax	6/5/2017	26.74	10.70	12.71
Class C before tax	12/29/2000	28.96	10.44	12.14
Class R before tax	5/1/2012	29.48	10.87	12.54
INST Class before tax	8/19/2002	30.40	11.63	13.42
Class S before tax	5/31/1929	30.37	11.60	13.34
Russell 1000® Index (reflects no deduction for fees, expenses or taxes)		31.43	11.48	13.54

	Class Inception	1 Year	5 Years	Since Inception
Class R6 before tax	8/25/2014	30.44	11.65	11.44
Russell 1000® Index (reflects no deduction for fees, expenses or taxes)		31.43	11.48	11.48

Management

Investment Advisor

DWS Investment Management Americas, Inc.

Portfolio Manager(s)

Pankaj Bhatnagar, PhD, Managing Director. Portfolio Manager of the fund. Began managing the fund in 2013.

Arno V. Puskar, Director. Portfolio Manager of the fund. Began managing the fund in 2016.

Di Kumble, CFA, Managing Director. Portfolio Manager of the fund. Began managing the fund in 2016.

Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares

Minimum Initial Investment  ($)

	Non-IRA	IRAs	UGMAs/ UTMAs	Automatic Investment Plans
A T C	1,000	500	1,000	500
R	None	N/A	N/A	N/A
R6	None	N/A	N/A	N/A
INST	1,000,000	N/A	N/A	N/A
S	2,500	1,000	1,000	1,000

For participants in all group retirement plans for Class A, T, C and S shares, and in certain fee-based and wrap programs approved by the Advisor for Class A, C and S shares, there is no minimum initial investment and no minimum additional investment. For Section 529 college savings plans, there is no minimum initial investment and no minimum additional investment for Class S shares and Class R6 shares. Certain intermediaries that offer Class S shares in their brokerage platforms may be eligible for an investment minimum waiver. In certain instances, the minimum initial investment may be waived for Institutional Class shares. There is no minimum additional investment for Class R, Class R6 and Institutional Class shares. The minimum additional investment in all other instances is $50.

To Place Orders

Mail	New Accounts	DWS PO Box 219356 Kansas City, MO 64121-9356
	Additional Investments	DWS PO Box 219154 Kansas City, MO 64121-9154
	Exchanges and Redemptions	DWS PO Box 219557 Kansas City, MO 64121-9557
Expedited Mail		DWS 210 West 10th Street Kansas City, MO 64105-1614
Web Site		dws.com
Telephone		(800) 728-3337, M – F 8 a.m. – 7 p.m. ET
TDD Line		(800) 972-3006, M – F 8 a.m. – 7 p.m. ET

The fund is generally open on days when the New York Stock Exchange is open for regular trading. Initial investments must be sent by mail. You can make additional investments or sell shares of the fund on any business day by visiting our Web site, by mail, or by telephone; however you may have to elect certain privileges on your initial account application. If you are working with a financial representative, contact your financial representative for

4 DWS Core Equity Fund

Summary Prospectus    February 1, 2020

assistance with buying or selling fund shares. A financial representative separately may impose its own policies and procedures for buying and selling fund shares.

Class T shares are closed to new purchases, except in connection with the reinvestment of dividends or other distributions where Class T shares have been issued. Class R shares are generally available only to certain retirement plans, which may have their own policies or instructions for buying and selling fund shares. Class R6 shares are generally available only to certain qualifying plans and programs, which may have their own policies or instructions for buying and selling fund shares. Institutional Class shares are generally available only to qualified institutions. Class S shares are only available to a limited group of investors as well as through firms that have an agreement with DWS Distributors, Inc. to offer the shares on an agency basis on brokerage platforms.

Tax Information

The fund's distributions are generally taxable to you as ordinary income or capital gains, except when your investment is in an IRA, 401(k), or other tax-advantaged investment plan. Any withdrawals you make from such tax- advantaged investment plans, however, may be taxable to you.

Payments to Broker-Dealers and
Other Financial Intermediaries

If you purchase shares of the fund through a broker-dealer or other financial intermediary (such as a bank), the fund, the Advisor, and/or the Advisor’s affiliates may pay the intermediary for the sale of fund shares and related services. These payments may create a conflict of interest by influencing the broker-dealer or other intermediary and your salesperson to recommend the fund over another investment. Ask your salesperson or visit your financial intermediary’s Web site for more information.

No such payments are made with respect to Class R6 shares. To the extent the fund makes such payments with respect to another class of its shares, the expense is borne by the other share class.

5 DWS Core Equity Fund

Summary Prospectus    February 1, 2020    DCEF-SUM