497K 1 d497k.htm ALLIANCEBERNSTEIN BALANCED SHARES - RETIREMENT SHARES AllianceBernstein Balanced Shares - Retirement Shares
LOGO    SUMMARY PROSPECTUS    March 1, 2010

AllianceBernstein Balanced Shares

Ticker: Class A–CABNX; Class R–CBSRX; Class K–CBSKX; Class I–CABIX

 

Before you invest, you may want to review the Fund’s Prospectus, which contains more information about the Fund and its risks. The Fund’s Prospectus and Statement of Additional Information (“SAI”), both dated March 1, 2010, are incorporated by reference into this Summary Prospectus. For free paper or electronic copies of the Fund’s Prospectus and other information about the Fund, go to http://www.alliancebernstein.com/links/mf, email a request to prorequest@alliancebernstein.com, call (800) 227-4618, or ask any financial advisor, bank, or broker-dealer who offers shares of the Fund. Unless otherwise noted, page number references refer to the current Prospectus for this Fund.

 

INVESTMENT OBJECTIVE

The Fund’s investment objective is total return consistent with reasonable risks through a combination of income and long-term growth of capital.

FEES AND EXPENSES OF THE FUND

This table describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy and hold shares of the Fund.

Shareholder Fees (fees paid directly from your investment)

 

      Class A
Shares
   Class R
Shares
   Class K
Shares
   Class I
Shares
Maximum Sales Charge (Load) Imposed on Purchases
(as a percentage of offering price)
   None    None    None    None
Maximum Deferred Sales Charge (Load)
(as a percentage of offering price or redemption proceeds, whichever is lower)
   None*    None    None    None
Exchange Fee    None    None    None    None

Annual Fund Operating Expenses (expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)

 

      Class A    Class R    Class K    Class I
Management Fees    .48%    .48%    .48%    .48%
Distribution and/or Service (12b-1) Fees    .29%    .50%    .25%    None
Other Expenses:            

Transfer Agent

   .21%    .24%    .19%    .10%

Other Expenses

   .10%    .10%    .10%    .11%
                   
Total Other Expenses    .31%    .34%    .29%    .21%
                   
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses    1.08%    1.32%    1.02%    .69%
                   
 

 

* In some cases, a 1%, 1-year contingent deferred sales charge or CDSC may apply for Class A shares.

Examples

The Examples are intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the Fund with the cost of investing in other mutual funds. The Examples assume 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 Examples also assume that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Fund’s operating expenses stay the same. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs as reflected in the Examples would be:

 

        Class A      Class R      Class K      Class I
After 1 Year      $ 110      $ 134      $ 104      $ 70
After 3 Years      $ 343      $ 418      $ 325      $ 221
After 5 Years      $ 595      $ 723      $ 563      $ 384
After 10 Years      $ 1,317      $ 1,590      $ 1,248      $ 859

 

PRO-RTMT-0103-BAL-0310

 

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Portfolio Turnover

The Fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys or sells securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs and may result in higher taxes when shares are held in a taxable account. These transaction costs, which are not reflected in the Annual Fund Operating Expenses or in the Examples, affect the Fund’s performance. During the most recent fiscal year, the Fund’s portfolio turnover rate was 111% of the average value of its portfolio.

PRINCIPAL STRATEGIES

The Fund invests in a diversified portfolio of equity and fixed-income securities, including U.S. Government and corporate fixed-income securities. The percentage of the Fund’s assets invested in each type of security will vary. Normally, the Fund’s investments will consist of about 60% in stocks, but these securities may comprise up to 75% of its investments. Normally, the Fund’s investments will consist of about 40% in fixed-income securities, but these securities may comprise up to 60% of its investments. The Fund will not purchase a security if as a result less than 25% of its total assets will be in fixed-income securities. The Fund may invest up to 20% of its assets in high yield securities (securities rated below BBB- by Standard & Poor’s Rating Services (“S&P”), Moody’s Investors Service, Inc. (“Moody’s”), or Fitch Ratings (“Fitch”)). As an operating policy, the Fund will invest no more than 5% of its assets in securities rated CCC- or below.

The Adviser depends heavily upon the fundamental analysis and research of its large internal research staff in making investment decisions for the Fund. The research staff follows a primary research universe of approximately 500 largely U.S. companies. In determining a company’s intrinsic economic value, the Adviser takes into account many fundamental and financial factors that it believes bear on the ability of the company to perform in the future, including earnings growth, prospective cash flows, dividend growth and growth in book value. The Adviser then ranks each of the companies in its research universe in the relative order of disparity between their intrinsic economic values and their current stock prices, with companies with the greatest disparities receiving the highest rankings (i.e., being considered the most undervalued). The Adviser anticipates that the Fund’s portfolio will vary in size, normally with 60 to 90 companies, with substantially all of those companies ranking in the top three deciles of the Adviser’s valuation model.

The Adviser recognizes that the perception of what is a “value” stock is relative and the factors considered in determining whether a stock is a “value” stock may, and often will, have differing relative significance in different phases of an economic cycle. Also, at different times, and as a result of how individual companies are valued in the market, the Fund may be attracted to investments in companies with different market capitalizations (i.e., large-, mid- or small-capitalization) or companies engaged in particular types of business (e.g., banks and other financial institutions), although the Fund does not intend to concentrate in any particular industries or businesses. The Fund’s portfolio emphasis upon particular industries or sectors will be a by-product of the stock selection process rather than the result of assigned targets or ranges.

The Fund may invest in mortgage-related and other asset-backed securities, loan participations, inflation-protected securities, structured securities, variable, floating, and inverse floating rate instruments, preferred stock, and may use other investment techniques. The Fund invests in short- and long-term debt securities in such proportions and of such type as the Adviser deems best adapted to the current economic and market outlooks. The Fund also may invest in equity and fixed-income securities of non-U.S. issuers located in emerging or developed countries. The Fund may enter into derivatives transactions, such as options, futures, forwards, and swap agreements.

PRINCIPAL RISKS

 

Market Risk: The value of the Fund’s investments will fluctuate as the stock or bond market fluctuates. The value of its investments may decline, sometimes rapidly and unpredictably, simply because of economic changes or other events that affect large portions of the market. It includes the risk that a particular style of investing, such as the Fund’s value approach, may be underperforming the market generally.

 

 

Interest Rate Risk: Changes in interest rates will affect the value of investments in fixed-income securities. When interest rates rise, the value of investments in fixed-income securities tend to fall and this decrease in value may not be offset by higher income from new investments. Interest rate risk is generally greater for fixed-income securities with longer maturities or durations.

 

 

Credit Risk: An issuer or guarantor of a fixed-income security, or the counterparty to a derivatives or other contract, may be unable or unwilling to make timely payments of interest or principal, or to otherwise honor its obligations. The issuer or guarantor may default causing a loss of the full principal amount of a security. The degree of risk for a particular security may be reflected in its credit rating. There is the possibility that the credit rating of a fixed-income security may be downgraded after purchase, which may adversely affect the value of the security. Investments in fixed-income securities with lower ratings tend to have a higher probability that an issuer will default or fail to meet its payment obligations.

 

 

Prepayment Risk: The value of mortgage-related or asset-backed securities may be particularly sensitive to changes in prevailing interest rates. Early payments of principal on some mortgage-related securities may occur during periods of falling mortgage interest rates and expose the Fund to a lower rate of return upon reinvestment of principal. Early payments associated with

 

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mortgage-related securities cause these securities to experience significantly greater price and yield volatility than is experienced by traditional fixed-income securities. During periods of rising interest rates, a reduction in prepayments may increase the effective life of mortgage-related securities, subjecting them to greater risk of decline in market value in response to rising interest rates. If the life of a mortgage-related security is inaccurately predicted, the Fund may not be able to realize the rate of return it expected.

 

 

Allocation Risk: If the Fund pursues the objective of a portfolio balanced between equity and debt securities, it has the risk that the allocation of these investments may have a more significant effect on the Fund’s NAV when one of these asset classes is performing more poorly than the other.

 

 

Foreign (Non-U.S.) Risk: Investment in securities of non-U.S. issuers may involve more risk than those of U.S. issuers. These securities may fluctuate more widely in price and may be less liquid due to adverse market, economic, political, regulatory or other factors.

 

 

Currency Risk: Fluctuations in currency exchange rates may negatively affect the value of the Fund’s investments or reduce its returns.

 

 

Emerging Market Risk: Investments in emerging market countries may have more risk because the markets are less developed and less liquid as well as being subject to increased economic, political, regulatory or other uncertainties.

 

 

Management Risk: The Fund is subject to management risk because it is an actively managed investment fund. The Adviser will apply its investment techniques and risk analyses in making investment decisions for the Fund, but there is no guarantee that its techniques will produce the desired results.

As with all investments, you may lose money by investing in the Fund.

BAR CHART AND PERFORMANCE INFORMATION

The bar chart and performance information provide an indication of the historical risk of an investment in the Fund by showing:

 

 

how the Fund’s performance changed from year to year over ten years; and

 

 

how the Fund’s average annual returns for one, five and ten years compare to those of a broad-based securities market index.

You may obtain updated performance information on the Fund’s website at www.AllianceBernstein.com (click on “Pricing & Performance”).

The Fund’s past performance before and after taxes, of course, does not necessarily indicate how it will perform in the future.

Bar Chart

The annual returns in the bar chart are for the Fund’s Class A shares and do not reflect sales loads. If sales loads were reflected, returns would be less than those shown.

LOGO

During the period shown in the bar chart, the Fund’s:

Best Quarter was up 12.80%, 2nd quarter, 2003; and Worst Quarter was down -13.42%, 4th quarter, 2008.

 

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Performance Table

Average Annual Total Returns

(For the periods ended December 31, 2009)

 

        1 Year      5 Years*      10 Years*
Class A      18.12%      .49%      3.54%
Class R      18.79%      .20%      3.30%
Class K      19.10%      .49%      3.57%
Class I      19.71%      .86%      3.89%
Russell 1000™ Value Index
(reflects no deduction for fees, expenses or taxes)
     19.69%      -.25%      2.47%
Barclays Capital U.S. Aggregate Index
(reflects no deduction for fees, expenses or taxes)
     5.93%      4.97%      6.33%
60% Russell 1000™ Value Index/40% Barclays Capital U.S. Aggregate Index
(reflects no deduction for fees, expenses or taxes)
     14.81%      2.18%      4.36%

 

* Inception dates are 11/3/03 for Class R shares and 3/1/05 for Class K and Class I shares. Performance information for periods prior to the inception of Class R, Class K and Class I shares is the performance of the Fund’s Class A shares adjusted to reflect the higher expense ratio of Class R shares and the lower expense ratios of Class K and Class I shares respectively.

INVESTMENT ADVISER

AllianceBernstein L.P. is the investment adviser for the Fund.

PORTFOLIO MANAGERS

The following table lists the persons responsible for day-to-day management of the Fund’s portfolio:

 

Employee    Length of Service    Title
Frank V. Caruso    Since 2007    Senior Vice President of the Adviser
     
Paul J. DeNoon    Since 2009    Senior Vice President of the Adviser
     
Shawn E. Keegan    Since 2007    Vice President of the Adviser
     
Alison M. Martier    Since 2007    Senior Vice President of the Adviser
     
Douglas J. Peebles    Since 2007    Executive Vice President of the Adviser
     
Greg J. Wilensky    Since 2007    Senior Vice President of the Adviser

PURCHASE AND SALE OF FUND SHARES

Purchase Minimums

Class A, Class R, Class K and Class I shares are available at NAV, without an initial sales charge, to 401(k) plans, 457 plans, employer-sponsored 403(b) plans, profit-sharing and money purchase pension plans, defined benefit plans, and non-qualified deferred compensation plans where plan level or omnibus accounts are held on the books of the Fund.

You may sell (redeem) your shares each day the New York Stock Exchange is open. You may sell your shares through your financial intermediary.

TAX INFORMATION

The Fund may make income dividends or capital gains distributions, which may be subject to federal income taxes and taxable as ordinary income or capital gains, and may also be subject to state and local taxes.

PAYMENTS TO FINANCIAL INTERMEDIARIES

Financial intermediaries (such as a bank) market and sell shares of the Fund. The Fund and its related companies may pay the intermediary for the sale of Fund shares and related services. These payments may create a conflict of interest by influencing the financial intermediary to recommend the Fund over another investment.

 

PRO-RTMT-0103-BAL-0310   LOGO

 

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