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. These costs, which are not
reflected in annual fund operating expenses or in the example, affect the Fund’s performance.
During the most recent fiscal year, the Fund’s portfolio turnover rate was 31% of the average value of its portfolio.
Principal Investment Strategies
The Fund invests primarily in equity securities of a limited number of large, carefully selected, high-quality U.S. companies. The Fund invests primarily in the domestic equity securities of companies selected by AllianceBernstein for their growth potential within various market sectors. The Fund emphasizes investments in large, seasoned companies. Under normal circumstances, the Fund will invest at least 80% of its net assets in common stocks of large-capitalization growth companies.
For these purposes, “large-capitalization companies” are those that, at the time of investment, have market capitalizations within the
range of market capitalizations of companies appearing in the Russell 1000® Growth Index. While the market capitalizations of companies in the Russell 1000® Growth Index ranged from approximately $631 million to $3.09 trillion as of March 15, 2024, the Fund normally
will invest in common stocks of companies with market capitalizations of at least $5 billion at the time of purchase.
AllianceBernstein expects that normally the Fund’s portfolio will tend to emphasize investments in securities issued by U.S. companies, although it may invest in foreign securities.
The investment team allocates the Fund’s investments among broad sector groups based on the fundamental company research conducted by the AllianceBernstein ’s internal research staff, assessing the current and forecasted investment opportunities and conditions, as well as diversification and risk considerations. The investment team may vary the percentage allocations among market sectors and may change the market sectors in which the Fund invests as companies’ potential for growth within a sector matures and new trends for growth emerge.
AllianceBernstein’s research focus is in companies with high sustainable growth prospects, high or improving return on invested capital, transparent business models, and strong and lasting competitive advantages.
The Fund may, at times, invest in shares of exchange-traded funds (“ETFs”) in lieu of making direct investments in securities. ETFs may provide more efficient and economical exposure to the types of companies and geographic locations in which the Fund seeks to invest than direct investments.
The Fund may enter into derivatives transactions, such as options, futures contracts, forwards and swaps. The Fund may use options strategies involving the purchase and/or writing of various combinations of call and/or put options, including on individual securities and stock indices, futures contracts (including futures contracts on individual securities and stock indices) or shares of ETFs. These transactions may be used, for example, in an effort to earn extra income, to adjust exposure to individual securities or markets, or to protect all or a portion of the Fund’s portfolio from a decline in value, sometimes within certain ranges.
The Fund’s investments include holdings in privately held companies and
companies that only recently began to trade publicly (the “Private Placement Sleeve”). The Fund’s Private Placement Sleeve is managed by T. Rowe Price
Associates, Inc. (“T. Rowe Price”). Securities held in the Private Placement Sleeve were purchased pursuant to a previous investment strategy of the Fund and are
being held pending favorable conditions for divestment. The Fund does not intend to invest in additional privately placed securities.
The Fund is non-diversified for purposes of the Investment Company Act of 1940, and as
a result may invest a greater percentage of assets in a particular issuer than a diversified fund.
All mutual funds carry risk. Accordingly, loss of money is a risk of investing in the
Fund. The following risks reflect the principal risks of the Fund.
•
Market Risk. The value of portfolio investments may decline. As a result, your investment in the Fund may decline in value and you could lose money.
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Derivatives Risk. Derivatives or other similar instruments (referred to collectively as
“derivatives”), such as futures, forwards, options, swaps, structured securities and other similar instruments, are financial contracts whose value depends on,
or is derived from, the value of an underlying asset, reference rate or index. Derivatives may involve costs and risks that are different from, or possibly greater than, the costs and risks associated with investing directly in securities and other traditional investments. Derivatives prices can be volatile, may correlate imperfectly with price of the applicable underlying asset, reference rate or index and may move in unexpected ways, especially in unusual market conditions, such as markets with high volatility or large market declines. Some derivatives are particularly sensitive to changes in interest rates. Other risks include liquidity risk, which refers to the potential inability to terminate or sell derivative positions and for derivatives to create margin delivery or settlement payment obligations for the Fund. Further, losses could result if the counterparty to a transaction does not perform