497K 1 d497k.htm EQ/ALLIANCEBERNSTEIN INTERNATIONAL EQ/AllianceBernstein International

EQ Advisors TrustSM

 

EQ/AllianceBernstein International Portfolio – Class IA and IB Shares

 

Summary Prospectus dated May 1, 2010

 

 

Before you invest, you may want to review the Portfolio’s Prospectus, which contains more information about the Portfolio and its risks. The Portfolio’s current Prospectus and Statement of Additional Information (“SAI”), dated May 1, 2010, and the Portfolio’s audited financial statements included in its annual report to shareholders dated December 31, 2009, are incorporated by reference into this Summary Prospectus. You can find the Portfolio’s Prospectus, SAI and other information about the Portfolio online at www.axa-equitablefunds.com/allportfolios.aspx. You can also get this information at no cost by calling 1-877-222-2144 or by sending an e-mail request to service@axa-equitable.com. This Summary Prospectus is intended for use in connection with a variable contract as defined in Section 817(d) of the Internal Revenue Code (“Contracts”) and certain other eligible investors and is not intended for use by other investors.

 

 

Investment Objective: Seeks to achieve long-term growth of capital.

 

FEES AND EXPENSES OF THE PORTFOLIO

 

The following table describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy and hold shares of the Portfolio. The table below does not reflect any fees and expenses associated with variable life insurance contracts and variable annuity certificates and contracts (“Contracts”), which would increase overall fees and expenses. See the Contract prospectus for a description of those fees and expenses.

 

Shareholder Fees

(fees paid directly from your investment)

Not applicable.          

 

Annual Portfolio Operating Expenses
(expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of
your investment)
EQ/AllianceBernstein International Portfolio   Class IA
Shares
  Class IB
Shares

Management Fee

  0.73%   0.73%

Distribution and/or Service Fees (12b-1 fees)

  None   0.25%

Other Expenses

  0.14%   0.14%

Total Annual Portfolio Operating Expenses

  0.87%   1.12%

 

Example

 

This Example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the Portfolio with the cost of investing in other portfolios. The Example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Portfolio for the periods indicated and then redeem all of your shares at the end of these periods. The Example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Portfolio’s operating expenses remain the same. This Example does not reflect any Contract-related fees and expenses including redemption fees (if any) at the Contract level. If such fees and expenses were reflected, the total expenses would be higher. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:

 

     1 Year   3 Years   5 Years   10 Years

Class IA Shares

  $ 89   $ 278   $ 482   $ 1,073

Class IB Shares

  $ 114   $ 356   $ 617   $ 1,363

 

PORTFOLIO TURNOVER

 

The Portfolio pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs. These costs, which are not reflected in annual fund operating expenses or in the example, affect the Portfolio’s performance. During the most recent fiscal year, the Portfolio’s portfolio turnover rate was 85% of the average value of the Portfolio.

 

INVESTMENTS, RISKS, AND PERFORMANCE

 

Principal Investment Strategy: The Portfolio invests in both growth-oriented and value-oriented stocks of non-U.S. companies. These non-U.S. companies may have operations in the United States, in their country of incorporation and/or in other countries. The Portfolio intends invest in companies with business activities in at least three different countries.

 

The growth portion of the Portfolio invests primarily in a diversified portfolio of equity securities selected principally to permit participation in non-U.S. companies or foreign governmental enterprises that the Adviser believes have prospects for growth. This portion of the Portfolio may invest anywhere in the world (including developing countries or “emerging markets”), although it will not generally invest in the United States. Developing countries in which the growth portion of the Portfolio may invest include, among others, Mexico, Brazil, Hong Kong, India, Poland, Turkey and South Africa.

 

The value portion of the Portfolio invests primarily in equity securities of issuers in countries that comprise the MSCI EAFE Index and Canada. MSCI EAFE countries currently include Australia, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. For this portion of the Portfolio, the Adviser uses a value oriented approach to stock selection in that it generally invests in stocks with low price-to-earnings ratios, low price-to-book ratios and high dividend yields. The value portion of the Portfolio will be diversified among many foreign countries (including developing countries or “emerging markets”) not necessarily in the same proportion that the countries are represented in the MSCI EAFE Index. The Adviser may sell a security for a variety of reasons, including to invest in a company believed to offer superior investment opportunities.

 

Principal Risks: An investment in the Portfolio is not a deposit of a bank and is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other government agency. You may lose money by investing in the Portfolio.

 

EQABI 1


Performance may be affected by one or more of the following risks. Detailed information regarding these risks is included in the section of the Portfolio’s Prospectus “More Information on Strategies, Risks and Benchmarks:”

 

Equity Risk: In general, stocks and other equity security values fluctuate, and sometimes widely fluctuate, in response to changes in a company’s financial condition as well as general market, economic and political conditions.

 

Foreign Securities Risk: Investments in foreign securities, including depositary receipts, involve risks not associated with investing in U.S. securities. Foreign markets, particularly emerging markets, may be less liquid, more volatile and subject to less government supervision than domestic markets. Security values also may be negatively affected by changes in the exchange rates between the U.S. dollar and foreign currencies. Differences between U.S. and foreign legal, political and economic systems, regulatory regimes and market practices also may impact security values and it may take more time to clear and settle trades involving foreign securities.

 

Currency Risk: Investments in foreign currencies and in securities that trade in, or receive revenues in, foreign currencies are subject to the risk that those currencies will decline in value relative to the U.S. dollar. Any such decline may erode or reverse any potential gains from an investment in securities denominated in foreign currency or may widen existing loss. Currency rates may fluctuate significantly over short periods of time for a number of reasons, including changes in interest rates, intervention by governments, central banks or supranational entities, or by the imposition of currency controls or other political developments in the U.S. or abroad.

 

Emerging Markets Risk: There are greater risks involved in investing in emerging market countries and/or their securities markets. Investments in these countries and/or markets may present market, credit, currency, liquidity, legal, political, technical and other risks different from, or greater than, the risks of investing in developed countries. In addition, the risks associated with investing in a narrowly defined geographic area are generally more pronounced with respect to investments in emerging market countries.

 

Investment Style Risk: An Adviser may use a particular style or set of styles — in this case “growth” and “value” styles — to select investments. Those styles may be out of favor or may not produce the best results over short or longer time periods. Growth stocks may be more sensitive to changes in current or expected earnings than the prices of other stocks. Growth investing also is subject to the risk that the stock price of one or more companies will fall or will fail to appreciate as anticipated, regardless of movements in the securities market. Growth stocks also tend to be more volatile than value stocks, so in a declining market, their prices may decrease more than value stocks in general. Value stocks are subject to the risks that notwithstanding that a stock is selling at a discount to its perceived true worth, the market will never fully recognize their intrinsic value. In addition, there is the risk that a stock judged to be undervalued may actually be appropriately priced. These investment styles also may increase the volatility of the Portfolio’s share price.

 

Risk/Return Bar Chart and Table

 

The bar chart and table below provide some indication of the risks of investing in the Portfolio by showing changes in the Portfolio’s performance from year to year and by showing how the Portfolio’s average annual total returns for the past one, five and ten years through December 31, 2009 compare to the returns of a broad-based market index. Past performance is not necessarily an indication of future performance.

 

The performance results do not reflect any Contract-related fees and expenses, which would reduce the performance results.

 

Calendar Year Annual Total Returns — Class IB

 

LOGO

 

Best quarter (% and time period)      Worst quarter (% and time period)
25.05% (2009 2nd Quarter)      –26.12% (2008 4th Quarter)

 

Average Annual Total Returns                  
      One
Year
   Five
Years
   Ten
Years

EQ/AllianceBernstein International Portfolio –
Class IA Shares

   27.52%    0.17%    –1.40%

EQ/AllianceBernstein International Portfolio –
Class IB Shares

   27.45%    –0.05%    –1.65%

MSCI EAFE Index

   31.78%    3.54%    1.17%

 

WHO MANAGES THE PORTFOLIO

 

Investment Manager: AXA Equitable Life Insurance Company (“AXA Equitable”).

 

AXA Equitable is responsible for overseeing the Adviser listed below, which is responsible for the day-to-day management of the Portfolio’s assets. AXA Equitable has been granted relief by the Securities and Exchange Commission to appoint, dismiss and replace Advisers and amend advisory agreements subject to the approval of the Board of Trustees and without obtaining shareholder approval. However, AXA Equitable may not enter into an advisory agreement with an “affiliated person” of AXA Equitable, such as AllianceBernstein L.P., unless the advisory agreement is approved by the Portfolio’s shareholders.

 

EQABI 2


Adviser: AllianceBernstein L.P. (“AllianceBernstein”)

 

Portfolio Manager:

 

Name    Title    Date Began
Managing
the Portfolio

Joshua Lisser

   Chief Investment Officer-Structured Equities AllianceBernstein    May 2009

 

PURCHASE AND REDEMPTION OF PORTFOLIO SHARES

 

The Portfolio’s shares are currently sold only to insurance company separate accounts in connection with Contracts issued by AXA Equitable, AXA Life and Annuity Company, other affiliated or unaffiliated insurance companies and to The AXA Equitable 401(k) Plan (“AXA Equitable Plan”). Shares also may be sold to other tax-qualified retirement plans, to other portfolios managed by AXA Equitable that currently sell their shares to such accounts and plans and other eligible investors.

 

The Portfolio does not have minimum initial or subsequent investment requirements. Shares of the Portfolio are redeemable on any business day upon receipt of a request. All redemption requests will be processed and payment with respect thereto will normally be made within seven days after tender. Please refer to your Contract prospectus for more information on purchasing and redeeming Portfolio shares.

 

TAX INFORMATION

 

The Portfolio currently only sells its shares to insurance company separate accounts, qualified plans and other eligible investors. Accordingly, distributions the Portfolio makes of its net investment income and net realized gains — most or all of which it intends to distribute annually — and redemptions or exchanges of Portfolio shares generally will not be taxable to its shareholders (or to the holders of underlying Contracts or plan participants or beneficiaries). See the prospectus for your Contract for further tax information.

 

PAYMENTS TO BROKER-DEALERS AND OTHER FINANCIAL INTERMEDIARIES

 

This Portfolio is not sold directly to the general public but instead is offered as an underlying investment option for Contracts, retirement plans and other eligible investments. The Portfolio and its related companies may make payments to a sponsoring insurance company (or its affiliates) or other financial intermediary for distribution and/or other services. These payments may create a conflict of interest by influencing the insurance company or other financial intermediary and your financial adviser to recommend the Portfolio over another investment or by influencing an insurance company to include the Portfolio as an underlying investment option in the Contract. The prospectus (or other offering document) for your Contract may contain additional information about these payments.

 

EQABI 3