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EQ/MFS International Growth Portfolio
EQ/MFS International Growth Portfolio – Class IA, IB and K Shares
Investment Objective:
Seeks to achieve capital appreciation.
FEES AND EXPENSES OF THE PORTFOLIO
The following table describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy, hold, and sell 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)
Shareholder Fees - EQ/MFS International Growth Portfolio - USD ($)
Class IA Shares
Class IB Shares
Class K Shares
Shareholder Fees (fees paid directly from your investment)
Annual Portfolio Operating Expenses (expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of thevalue of your investment)
Annual Fund Operating Expenses - EQ/MFS International Growth Portfolio
Class IA Shares
Class IB Shares
Class K Shares
Management Fee 0.83% 0.83% 0.83%
Distribution and/or Service Fees (12b-1 fees) 0.25% 0.25% none
Other Expenses 0.14% 0.14% 0.14%
Total Annual Portfolio Operating Expenses 1.22% 1.22% 0.97%
Fee Waiver and/or Expense Reimbursement [1],[2] (0.12%) (0.12%) (0.12%)
Total Annual Portfolio Operating Expenses After Fee Waiver and/or Expense Reimbursement 1.10% 1.10% 0.85%
[1] Fee Waiver and/or Expense Reimbursement information has been restated to reflect the current Expense Limitation Arrangement.
[2] Pursuant to a contract, Equitable Investment Management Group, LLC (the “Adviser”) has agreed to make payments or waive its management, administrative and other fees to limit the expenses of the Portfolio through April 30, 2022 (unless the Board of Trustees consents to an earlier revision or termination of this arrangement) (“Expense Limitation Arrangement”) so that the annual operating expenses of the Portfolio (exclusive of taxes, interest, brokerage commissions, dividend and interest expenses on securities sold short, capitalized expenses, acquired fund fees and expenses, and extraordinary expenses not incurred in the ordinary course of the Portfolio’s business) do not exceed an annual rate of average daily net assets of 1.10% for Class IA and Class IB shares and 0.85% for Class K shares of the Portfolio. The Expense Limitation Arrangement may be terminated by the Adviser at any time after April 30, 2022. The Adviser may be reimbursed the amount of any such payments or waivers made after June 30, 2020, in the future provided that the payments or waivers are reimbursed within three years of the payments or waivers being recorded and the Portfolio’s expense ratio, after the reimbursement is taken into account, does not exceed the Portfolio’s expense cap at the time of the waiver or the Portfolio’s expense cap at the time of the reimbursement, whichever is lower.
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 $10,000 in the Portfolio for the periods indicated, that your investment has a 5% return each year, that the Portfolio’s operating expenses remain the same, and that the Expense Limitation Arrangement is not renewed. This Example does not reflect any Contract-related fees and expenses including redemption fees (if any) at the Contract level. If such fees and expenses were reflected, the total expenses would be higher. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions, whether you redeem or hold your shares, your costs would be:
Expense Example - EQ/MFS International Growth Portfolio - USD ($)
1 Year
3 Years
5 Years
10 Years
Class IA Shares 112 375 659 1,467
Class IB Shares 112 375 659 1,467
Class K Shares 87 297 525 1,179
Expense Example, No Redemption - EQ/MFS International Growth Portfolio - USD ($)
1 Year
3 Years
5 Years
10 Years
Class IA Shares 112 375 659 1,467
Class IB Shares 112 375 659 1,467
Class K Shares 87 297 525 1,179
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 21% of the average value of the Portfolio.
INVESTMENTS, RISKS, AND PERFORMANCE Principal Investment Strategy:
Under normal circumstances, the Portfolio intends to invest at least 80% of its net assets in the equity securities of foreign companies, including emerging markets equity securities. The Portfolio may
invest
a large percentage of its assets in issuers in a single country, a small number of countries, or a particular geographic region. The Sub-Adviser normally allocates the Portfolio’s investments across different industries and sectors, but the Sub-Adviser may invest a significant percentage of the Portfolio’s assets in issuers in a single or small number of industries or sectors. The Sub-Adviser focuses on investing the Portfolio’s assets in the stocks of companies it believes have above average earnings growth potential compared to other companies (
i.e.
growth companies). Growth companies tend to have stock prices that are high relative to their earnings, dividends, book value, or other financial measures. The Portfolio may invest in companies of any size.
 
The Portfolio intends to invest primarily in common stocks, but it may also invest in other types of equity securities. These may include depositary receipts, preferred stocks and warrants. The Portfolio may engage in active and frequent trading in pursuing its principal investment strategies.
 
The Sub-Adviser uses an active bottom-up approach to buying and selling investments for the Portfolio. Investments are selected primarily based on fundamental analysis of
individual issuers and their potential in light of their financial condition, and market, economic, political, and regulatory conditions. Factors considered may include analysis of an issuer’s earnings, cash flows, competitive position, and management ability. The Sub-Adviser may also consider environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors in its fundamental investment analysis. Quantitative screening tools that systematically evaluate an issuer’s valuation, price and earnings momentum, earnings quality, and other factors may also be considered. The Sub-Adviser may sell a security for a variety of reasons, such as to secure gains, to limit losses, or redeploy assets into opportunities believed to be more promising, among others.
 
The Portfolio also may lend its portfolio securities to earn additional income.
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. The value of your investment may fall, sometimes sharply, and you could lose money by investing in the Portfolio. There can be no assurance that the Portfolio will achieve its investment objective.
 
The following risks can negatively affect the Portfolio’s performance. The most significant risks as of the date of this Prospectus are listed first, followed by additional risks in alphabetical order.
 
Market Risk:
The Portfolio is subject to the risk that the securities markets will move down, sometimes rapidly and unpredictably, based on overall economic conditions and other factors, which may negatively affect Portfolio performance. Securities markets also may experience long periods of decline in value. Changes in the financial condition of a single issuer can impact a market as a whole. Geo-political risks, including terrorism, tensions or open conflict between nations, or political or economic dysfunction within some nations that are major players on the world stage, may lead to instability in world economies and markets, may lead to increased market volatility, and may have adverse long-term effects. Events such as natural disasters, public health crises (such as epidemics and pandemics) and social unrest, and governments’ reactions to such events, could cause uncertainty in the markets and may adversely affect the performance of the global economy. Adverse market conditions may not have the same impact on all types of securities. In addition, markets and market participants are increasingly reliant on information data systems. Inaccurate data, software or other technology malfunctions, programming inaccuracies, unauthorized use or access, and similar circumstances may impair the performance of these systems and may have an adverse impact upon a single issuer, a group of issuers, or the market at-large.
 
Equity Risk:
In general, the values of stocks and other equity securities fluctuate, and sometimes widely fluctuate, in response to changes in a company’s financial condition as well as general market, economic and political conditions and other factors.
 
Foreign Securities Risk:
Investments in foreign securities, including depositary receipts, involve risks in addition to those associated with investments in U.S. securities. Foreign markets may be less liquid, more volatile and subject to less government supervision and regulation than U.S. markets, and it may take more time to clear and settle trades involving foreign securities, which could negatively impact the Portfolio’s investments and cause it to lose money. 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, as well as trade barriers and other protectionist trade policies (including those of the U.S.), governmental instability, or other political or economic actions, also may adversely impact security values. World markets, or those in a particular region, may all react in similar fashion to important economic, political or other developments. Events and evolving conditions in certain economies or markets may alter the risks associated with investments tied to countries or regions that historically were perceived as comparatively stable and make such investments riskier and more volatile. Regardless of where a company is organized or its stock is traded, its performance may be significantly affected by events in regions from which it derives its profits or in which it conducts significant operations.
 
Currency Risk:
Investments that are denominated in or that provide exposure to 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. In the case of hedging positions, there is the risk that the U.S. dollar will decline in value relative to the currency being hedged. Currency rates may fluctuate significantly over short periods of time.
 
Emerging Markets Risk:
Investments in emerging market countries are more susceptible to loss than investments in more developed foreign countries and may present market, credit, currency, liquidity, legal, political, technical and other risks different from, or greater than, the risks of investing in more developed foreign countries. Emerging market countries may be more likely to experience rapid and significant adverse developments in their political or economic structures, intervene in financial markets, restrict foreign investments, impose high withholding or other taxes on foreign investments, impose restrictive exchange control regulations, or nationalize or expropriate the assets of private companies, which may have negative impacts on transaction costs, market price, investment returns and
 
the legal rights and remedies available to the Portfolio. In addition, the securities markets of emerging market countries generally are smaller, less liquid and more volatile than those of more developed foreign countries, and emerging market countries often have less uniformity in regulatory, accounting, auditing and financial reporting requirements or standards, which may impact the availability and quality of information about issuers, and less reliable clearance and settlement, registration and custodial procedures. Securities of issuers traded on foreign exchanges may be suspended. The likelihood of such suspensions may be higher for securities of issuers in emerging market countries than in countries with more developed countries. The risks associated with investments in emerging market countries often are significant, and vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction and company to company.
 
Geographic Concentration Risk
: To the extent the Portfolio invests a significant portion of its assets in securities of companies domiciled, or exercising the predominant part of their economic activity, in one country or geographic region, it assumes the risk that economic, political, social and environmental conditions in that particular country or region will have a significant impact on the Portfolio’s investment performance and that the Portfolio’s performance will be more volatile than the performance of more geographically diversified funds. 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:
The Portfolio may use a particular style or set of styles — in this case a “growth” style — to select investments. A particular style 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 by the Portfolio, 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. Growth stocks also may increase the volatility of the Portfolio’s share price.
 
Sector Risk:
From time to time, based on market or economic conditions, the Portfolio may have significant positions in one or more sectors of the market. To the extent the Portfolio invests more heavily in particular sectors, its performance will be especially sensitive to developments that significantly affect those sectors. Individual sectors may be more volatile, and may perform differently, than the broader market. The industries that constitute a sector may all react in the same way to economic, political or regulatory events.
 
Mid-Cap and Small-Cap Company Risk:
Mid-cap and small-cap companies carry additional risks because the operating histories of these companies tend to be more limited, their earnings and revenues less predictable (and some companies may be experiencing significant losses), and their share prices more volatile than those of larger, more established companies, all of which can negatively affect their value. In general, these risks are greater for small-cap companies than for mid-cap companies.
 
Large-Cap Company Risk:
Larger more established companies may be unable to respond quickly to new competitive challenges such as changes in technology and consumer tastes, which may lead to a decline in their market price. Many larger companies also may not be able to attain the high growth rate of successful smaller companies, especially during extended periods of economic expansion.
 
Portfolio Management Risk:
The Portfolio is subject to the risk that strategies used by an investment manager and its securities selections fail to produce the intended results. An investment manager’s judgments or decisions about the quality, relative yield or value of, or market trends affecting, a particular security or issuer, industry, sector, region or market segment, or about the economy or interest rates, may be incorrect or otherwise may not produce the intended results, which may result in losses to the Portfolio. In addition, many processes used in Portfolio management, including security selection, rely, in whole or in part, on the use of various technologies. The Portfolio may suffer losses if there are imperfections, errors or limitations in the quantitative, analytic or other tools, resources, information and data used, or the analyses employed or relied on, by an investment manager, or if such tools, resources, information or data are used incorrectly, fail to produce the desired results, or otherwise do not work as intended. There can be no assurance that the use of these technologies will result in effective investment decisions for the Portfolio.
 
Large Shareholder Risk:
A significant percentage of the Portfolio’s shares may be owned or controlled by the Adviser and its affiliates, other Portfolios advised by the Adviser (including funds of funds), or other large shareholders, including primarily insurance company separate accounts. Accordingly, the Portfolio is subject to the potential for large-scale inflows and outflows as a result of purchases and redemptions of its shares by such shareholders. These inflows and outflows could negatively affect the Portfolio’s net asset value and performance.
 
Liquidity Risk:
From time to time, there may be little or no active trading market for a particular investment in which the Portfolio may invest or is invested. In such a market, the value of such an investment and the Portfolio’s share price may fall dramatically. Illiquid investments may be difficult or impossible to sell or purchase at an advantageous time or price or in sufficient amounts to achieve the Portfolio’s desired level of exposure. To meet redemption requests during periods of illiquidity, the Portfolio may be forced to
 
dispose of investments at unfavorable times or prices and/or under unfavorable conditions, which may result in a loss or may be costly to the Portfolio. Investments that are illiquid or that trade in lower volumes may be more difficult to value. The Portfolio also may not receive its proceeds from the sale of certain investments for an extended period of time. Certain investments that were liquid when purchased may later become illiquid, sometimes abruptly, particularly in times of overall economic distress or adverse investor perception. An inability to sell a portfolio position can adversely affect the Portfolio’s value or prevent the Portfolio from being able to take advantage of other investment opportunities. During periods of market stress, an investment or even an entire market segment may become illiquid, sometimes abruptly, which can adversely affect the Portfolio’s ability to limit losses. In addition, a reduction in the ability or willingness of dealers and other institutional investors to make a market in certain securities may result in decreased liquidity in certain markets.
 
Securities Lending Risk:
The Portfolio may lend its portfolio securities to seek income. There is a risk that a borrower may default on its obligations to return loaned securities. The Portfolio will be responsible for the risks associated with the investment of cash collateral and may lose money on its investment of cash collateral or may fail to earn sufficient income on its investment to meet obligations to the borrower. Securities lending may introduce leverage into the Portfolio. In addition, delays may occur in the recovery of loaned securities from borrowers, which could interfere with the Portfolio’s ability to vote proxies or to settle transactions.
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 (or since inception) through December 31, 2020 compared to the returns of a broad-based securities market index. The return of the broad-based securities market index (and any additional comparative index) shown in the right hand column below is the return of the index for the last 10 years or, if shorter, since the inception of the share class with the longest history. Past performance is not an indication of future performance.
 
For periods prior to the date Class IA shares commenced operations (September 26, 2008), Class IA share performance information shown in the table below is the performance of Class IB shares, which reflects the effect of
12b-1
fees paid by Class IB shares. Class IA shares did not pay
12b-1
fees prior to January 1, 2012.
 
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
Bar Chart
 
   
Best quarter (% and time period)
 
Worst quarter
 
(% and time period)
16.89% (2020 2nd Quarter)
 
–19.66% (2011 3rd Quarter)
 
Average Annual Total Returns
Average Annual Total Returns - EQ/MFS International Growth Portfolio
One Year
Five Years
Ten Years
Since Inception
Inception Date
Class IA Shares 15.45% 12.37% 7.58%    
Class IB Shares 15.41% 12.38% 7.55%    
Class K Shares 15.54% 12.64%   9.58% Aug. 26, 2011
MSCI ACWI ex U.S. Growth (Net) Index (reflects no deduction for fees, expenses, or taxes) 22.20% 11.97% 6.94%