497K 1 b84030a1e497k.htm JOHN HANCOCK INVESTMENT TRUST e497k

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John Hancock
Sovereign Investors Fund

     
 SUMMARY PROSPECTUS 3–1–10 (as revised 1–7–11)   PHOTO
 
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 and other information about the fund, including the statement of additional information and most recent reports to shareholders, online at www.jhfunds.com/Forms/Prospectuses.aspx. You can also get this information at no cost by calling 1-800-225-5291 or by sending an e-mail request to info@jhfunds.com. The fund’s prospectus and statement of additional information both dated March 1, 2010, and most recent report to shareholders, dated October 31, 2009, are all incorporated by reference into this Summary Prospectus.

 
 CLASS A: SOVIX            CLASS B: SOVBX            CLASS C: SOVCX
 
 
Investment objective
 
To seek long-term growth of capital and income without assuming undue market risks.
 
Fees and expenses
 
This table describes the fees and expenses you may pay if you buy and hold shares of the fund. You may qualify for sales charge discounts on Class A shares if you and your family invest, or agree to invest in the future, at least $50,000 in the John Hancock family of funds. More information about these and other discounts is available on pages 12 to 13 of the prospectus under “Sales charge reductions and waivers” or pages 76 to 80 of the fund’s statement of additional information under “Initial Sales Charge on Class A Shares.”
 
Shareholder fees are those fees paid directly from your investment.
 
Annual fund operating expenses are those expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment.
 
                             
 Shareholder fees (%)   Class A     Class B     Class C      
 
Maximum front-end sales charge (load) on purchases as a % of purchase price     5.00                  
Maximum deferred sales charge (load) as a % of purchase or sale price, whichever is less           5.00       1.00      
 
                             
 Annual fund operating expenses (%)   Class A     Class B     Class C      
 
Management fee     0.60       0.60       0.60      
Distribution and service (12b-1) fees     0.30       1.00       1.00      
Other expenses1     0.41       0.41       0.41      
Total annual fund operating expenses     1.31       2.01       2.01      
     
1
  “Other expenses” shown exclude certain one time fees incurred in the prior fiscal year. Had these fees been included, “Other expenses” would have been 0.44% for Classes A, B and C.
 
Expense 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. Please see below a hypothetical example showing the expenses of a $10,000 investment at the end of the various time frames indicated. The example assumes a 5% average annual return. The example assumes fund expenses will not change over the periods. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions, your costs would be:
 
                                                     
 Expenses ($)   Class A     Class B     Class C      
 
Shares     Sold       Kept       Sold       Kept       Sold       Kept      
1 Year     627       627       704       204       304       204      
3 Years     894       894       930       630       630       630      
5 Years     1,182       1,182       1,283       1,083       1,083       1,083      
10 Years     2,000       2,000       2,157       2,157       2,338       2,338      

 
 
A DOMESTIC EQUITY FUND


 

 
 John Hancock Sovereign Investors Fund
 

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 rate may indicate higher transaction costs and may result in higher taxes when fund shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in annual fund operating expenses or in the example, affect the fund’s performance. During its most recent fiscal year, the fund’s portfolio turnover rate was 101% of the average value of its portfolio.
 
Principal investment strategies
 
Under normal market conditions, the fund invests at least 80% of its stock investments in a diversified portfolio of companies with market capitalizations within the range of the S&P 500 Index. On December 31, 2009 that range was $1.1 billion to $323.7 billion.
 
At least 65% of the fund’s stock investments are “dividend performers” — companies whose dividend payments have increased steadily for ten years. In managing the fund, the subadviser uses fundamental financial analysis to identify individual companies with high-quality income statements, substantial cash reserves and identifiable catalysts for growth, which may be new products or benefits from industry-wide growth. The subadviser generally visits companies to evaluate the strength and consistency of their management strategy. Finally, the subadviser looks for stocks that are reasonably priced relative to their earnings and industry.
 
The fund may not invest more than 5% of assets in any one security. The fund may invest in bonds of any maturity, with up to 5% of assets in junk bonds rated as low as C by S&P or Moody’s and their unrated equivalents.
 
The fund typically invests in U.S. companies, but may invest in dollar-denominated foreign securities. It may also make limited use of certain derivatives (investments whose value is based on indexes).
 
Under normal conditions, the fund may not invest more than 10% of assets in cash or cash equivalents.
 
Principal risks
 
An investment in the fund is not a bank deposit and is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other government agency. The fund’s shares will go up and down in price, meaning that you could lose money by investing in the fund. Many factors influence a mutual fund’s performance.
 
Instability in the financial markets has led the United States government to take a number of unprecedented actions designed to support certain financial institutions and segments of the financial markets that have experienced extreme volatility and, in some cases, a lack of liquidity. Federal, state and other governments, and their regulatory agencies or self-regulatory organizations, may take actions that affect the regulation of the instruments in which the fund invests, or the issuers of such instruments, in ways that are unforeseeable. Legislation or regulation may also change the way in which the fund itself is regulated. Such legislation or regulation could limit or preclude the fund’s ability to achieve its goal.
 
Governments or their agencies may also acquire distressed assets from financial institutions and acquire ownership interests in those institutions. The implications of government ownership and disposition of these assets are unclear, and such a program may have positive or negative effects on the liquidity, valuation and performance of the fund’s portfolio holdings. Furthermore, volatile financial markets can expose the fund to greater market and liquidity risk and potential difficulty in valuing portfolio instruments held by the fund.
 
The fund’s main risk factors are listed below in alphabetical order. Before investing, be sure to read the additional descriptions of these risks beginning on page 5 of the prospectus.
 
Active management risk The subadviser’s investment strategy may fail to produce the intended result.
 
Equity securities risk The value of a company’s equity securities is subject to changes in the company’s financial condition, and overall market and economic conditions.
 
Fixed-income securities risk Fixed-income securities are affected by changes in interest rates and credit quality. A rise in interest rates typically causes bond prices to fall. The longer the average maturity of the bonds held by the fund, the more sensitive the fund is likely to be to interest-rate changes. There is the possibility that the issuer of the security will not repay all or a portion of the principal borrowed and will not make all interest payments. Lower-rated fixed-income securities and high-yield securities involve a higher degree of risk than fixed-income securities in higher-rated categories.
 
Foreign securities risk As compared to U.S. companies, there may be less publicly available information relating to foreign companies. Foreign securities may be subject to foreign taxes. The value of foreign securities is subject to currency fluctuations and adverse political and economic developments.
 
Hedging, derivatives and other strategic transactions risk Hedging and other strategic transactions may increase the volatility of a fund and, if the transaction is not successful, could result in a significant loss to a fund. In addition, the use of derivative instruments (such as options, futures and swaps) could produce disproportionate gains or losses, more than the principal amount invested. Investing in derivative instruments involves risks different from, or possibly greater than, the risks associated with investing directly in securities and other traditional investments and, in a down market, could become harder to value or sell at a fair price.
 
High portfolio turnover risk Actively trading securities can increase transaction costs (thus lowering performance) and taxable distributions.
 
Large company risk Large-capitalization stocks as a group could fall out of favor with the market, causing the fund to underperform investments that focus on small- or medium-capitalization stocks. Larger, more established companies may be slow to respond to challenges and may grow more slowly than smaller companies.

    


 

Medium and smaller company risk The prices of medium and small company stocks can change more frequently and dramatically than those of large company stocks.
 
Past performance
 
Calendar year total returns These do not include sales charges and would have been lower if they did. Calendar year total returns are shown only for Class A shares and would be different for other share classes. The following performance information shown provides some indication of the risks of investing in the fund. Fund returns vary from year to year and may indicate the fund’s level of volatility; however, as always, past performance (before and after taxes) does not indicate future results. All figures assume dividend reinvestment. Performance for the fund is updated daily, monthly and quarterly and may be obtained at our Web site: www.jhfunds.com/FundPerformance or by calling Signature Services at 1-800-225-5291 between 8:00 A.M. and 7:00 P.M., Eastern Time, on most business days.
 
Average annual total returns Performance of a broad-based market index is included for comparison.
 
After-tax returns These are shown only for Class A shares and would be different for other classes. They reflect the highest individual federal marginal income tax rates in effect as of the date provided and 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.
 
                                                       
 Calendar year total returns — Class A (%)
                                                       
                                                       
                                                       
2000
    2001     2002     2003     2004     2005     2006     2007     2008     2009
4.08
    −6.06     −18.68     19.55     5.23     2.28     14.67     7.83     −30.87     23.64
                                                       
 
(PERFORMANCE GRAPHIC)
 
Total return The fund’s total return for the year ended December 31, 2009 was 23.64%.
 
Best quarter: Q3 ’09, 14.13%
 
Worst quarter: Q4 ’08, −18.52%
 
                             
 Average annual total returns (%)   1 Year     5 Year     10 Year      
 
as of 12-31-09                            
Class A before tax     17.43       0.53       0.27      
After tax on distributions
    16.96       −0.61       −0.82      
After tax on distributions, with sale
    11.29       0.41       −0.01      
Class B before tax     17.79       0.57       0.22      
Class C before tax     21.73       0.86       0.08      
S&P 500 Index     26.46       0.42       −0.95      
 
Investment management
 
Investment adviser John Hancock Advisers, LLC
Subadviser John Hancock Asset Management a division of Manulife Asset Management (US) LLC
 
Portfolio management
 
Barry H. Evans, CFA
President and chief fixed-income officer
 
Joined fund team in 1996
 
Christopher P. O’Keefe, CFA
Vice president
 
Joined fund team in 2007
 
Christopher J. Perry, CFA
Vice president
 
Joined fund team in 2007
 
John F. Snyder III
Executive vice president
 
Joined fund team in 1983
 
Purchase and sale of fund shares
 
The minimum initial investment requirement for Class A, B and C shares of the fund is $2,500, except for Coverdell ESAs it is $2,000 and group investments it is $250. There are no subsequent investment requirements. You may redeem shares of the fund on any business day through our Web

    


 

 
 John Hancock Sovereign Investors Fund
 

site: www.jhfunds.com; by mail: Mutual Fund Operations, John Hancock Signature Services, Inc., P.O. Box 55913, Boston, Massachusetts 02205-5913; or by telephone: 1-800-225-5291.
 
Taxes
 
The fund typically declares and pays income dividends quarterly and capital gains, if any, at least annually. The fund’s distributions are taxable, and will be taxed as ordinary income and/or capital gains, unless you are investing through a tax-deferred arrangement, such as a 401(k) plan or individual retirement account. Withdrawals from such tax-deferred arrangements may be subject to tax.
 
Payments to broker-dealers and other financial intermediaries
 
Shares of the fund are primarily sold through financial intermediaries, such as brokers, banks, registered investment advisers, financial planners and retirement plan administrators. The fund’s related companies may pay intermediaries for the sale of fund shares and related services. These payments may influence the financial intermediary to recommend the fund over another investment. Ask your salesperson or visit your financial intermediary’s Web site for more information.
 
         
         
© 2010 John Hancock Funds, LLC    290SP 3–1–10 (as revised 1–7–11)    SEC file number: 811-00560