Stocks

Bernstein’s global research informs and distinguishes our stock portfolios. We capitalize on our local insight into companies around the world and our cross-border perspective to seek the best opportunities in the global landscape—wherever they may be. Centralized investment policy teams, organized by investment style and geography, using fundamental, quantitative, and macroeconomic research input, make the decisions on stock purchases, trims, and sales.

Broadly, the most important distinction we make globally is between value (bargain-priced) and growth (aggressively growing) stocks. These two investment styles tend to unearth different opportunities and complement each other, depending on market conditions.

Our value-equities philosophy seeks to capitalize on the tendency of investors to overreact to short-term company setbacks, curable by the effects of market change or robust management action. A depressed stock price may bounce back or it may be the precursor of a worse downturn; the challenge of value investing is to identify which outcome is more likely. Our growth-equities philosophy is to seek companies for which consensus is underestimating earnings growth, either the ability of growing companies to accelerate growth, or that of more mature companies to sustain or reaccelerate growth. Disappointing news can send the price of a growth stock tumbling, so the challenge is to balance this risk with the potential for greater gains.

Beyond Value and Growth

In US equities, we’ve enhanced our strategies by building on the foundation of value and growth investing and adding multiple levels of diversification. Specifically, we seek large-capitalization stocks that complement our value and growth holdings because they exhibit lower volatility or are responsive to near-term catalysts. And we further diversify our investment universe across the capitalization spectrum through the inclusion of small- and mid-cap stocks.*

Different Time Horizons

A key benefit of this diversification strategy relates to time horizon. Both value and growth—whether large cap or small—are longer-horizon strategies that tend to perform best when investors are confident and willing to give credit to future cash flows. In contrast, shorter-horizon strategies tend to work best when investors are uncertain about the future; our investments here tend to emphasize companies with traits that offer a high potential for near-term payoff, such as healthy and stable current profitability and strong cash flows. While these traditionally less volatile stocks may earn less in very strong markets, they should also lose less in market declines—complementing our longer-horizon value and growth strategies.

In sum, by offering clients a highly diversified equity portfolio, we can manage risk and return in a comprehensive, integrated manner. Our goal is to generate premiums in a more consistent pattern over a broad range of market environments.

Capturing Longer- and Shorter-Horizon Opportunities

*Exposure to small- and mid-capitalization stocks will be achieved through direct ownership and through a pooled investment vehicle.

Stock investing does not guarantee a profit or eliminate risk. To learn more about our stock-investment services, please

To review current to the most recent month-end performance for the portfolios of the Sanford C. Bernstein Fund, Inc., please see Mutual Fund Performance at a Glance. For current holdings information, please see Mutual Fund Portfolio Holdings & Characteristics.

These services are available either as separately managed accounts, with certain minimum investment requirements, or through the Sanford C. Bernstein Fund, Inc., offered by prospectus. Before investing in any portfolio of the Sanford C. Bernstein Fund, Inc., a prospective investor should consider carefully the portfolio’s investment objectives and policies, charges, expenses, and risks. These and other matters of importance to prospective investors are contained in the fund’s prospectus, which may be obtained by clicking on Prospectuses, SAIs, and Shareholder Reports. Please read the prospectus carefully before investing.

Bernstein Global Wealth Management is a unit of AllianceBernstein L.P.
Sanford C. Bernstein & Co., LLC, the distributor of the funds, is a member of FINRA and a subsidiary of AllianceBernstein L.P.

Investments

TO LEARN MORE...
Strategic Equities Fact Sheet
PDF 222kMarch 31, 2012
Fact Sheet
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Fact Sheet