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Filed Pursuant to Rule 497(e)
Registration File No.: 333-17217
EQ ADVISORS TRUST
SUPPLEMENT DATED OCTOBER 16, 2000
TO THE PROSPECTUS DATED MAY 1, 2000
This Supplement updates the above-dated Prospectus of EQ Advisors Trust
("Trust"). You may obtain an additional copy of the Prospectus or Statement of
Additional Information, free of charge, by writing to the Trust at 1290 Avenue
of the Americas, New York, New York 10104.
The primary purpose of this Supplement is to provide you with information about
the change in the investment strategy of one of the Portfolios of the Trust. As
more fully described below, the investment strategy of the EQ/Aggressive Stock
Portfolio ("Portfolio") will be changing from a fund that invests primarily in
small-cap and mid-cap issuers to one that invests primarily in common stocks of
companies with large market capitalizations although it is expected that the
Portfolio may invest in companies with market capitalizations of any size.
The following updates the information with respect to the Portfolio in the
sections of the Prospectus entitled "Summary Information Concerning EQ Advisors
Trust," "About the Investment Portfolio: Investment Strategy, Portfolio
Performance, Who Manages the Portfolio," in the Prospectus:
EQ/AGGRESSIVE STOCK PORTFOLIO
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PRINCIPAL INVESTMENT STRATEGIES PRINCIPAL RISKS
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Following a transition period of up to one year, General investment, multi-adviser, growth investing,
equity securities of U.S. companies of large market small-cap and mid-cap company, derivatives, foreign
capitalizations securities
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INVESTMENT OBJECTIVE: Seeks to achieve long-term growth of capital.
THE INVESTMENT STRATEGY
The EQ/Aggressive Stock Portfolio employs multiple Advisers, each of whom are
responsible for investing an allocated portion of the Portfolio. The Manager has
ultimate responsibility for the performance of the Portfolio and continuously
monitors the performance and investment strategies of each of the Advisers. In
order to achieve the Portfolio's investment objective, following a transition
period, the Portfolio, as a whole, will invest primarily in securities of large
cap growth companies, although the Manager has designated that certain discrete
portions of the Portfolio are to be invested primarily in the common stocks of
companies of small or medium market capitalizations. Certain of the Advisers to
the Portfolio may invest their allocated portions of the Portfolio in a
relatively small number of intensively researched companies. The Portfolio will
place an emphasis on identifying securities of companies whose above-average
prospective earnings growth is not fully reflected, in the view of the Advisers,
in current market valuations.
Following a transition period (of up to one year) from a Portfolio that invests
primarily in small-cap and mid-cap issuers, the Portfolio, as a whole, will
invest primarily in common stocks and other equity securities of large market
capitalization companies that, in the opinion of the Adviser(s), have favorable
appreciation prospects. The Portfolio may also invest in securities of small and
mid-cap issuers, companies in cyclical industries, emerging growth companies,
companies whose securities are temporarily undervalued, companies in special
situations (e.g., change in management, new products or changes in customer
demand), companies whose growth prospects are not recognized by the market and
less widely known companies. For purposes of this Portfolio, emerging growth
companies may include those that an Adviser believes are either early in their
life cycle but have the potential to become major enterprises or are major
enterprises whose rates of earnings growth are expected to accelerate because of
special factors such as rejuvenated management, new products, changes in
customer demand or basic changes in the economic environment.
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The Portfolio may also invest up to 25% of its total assets in foreign
securities and may also make use of various other investment strategies, (e.g.,
investments in debt securities, making secured loans of its portfolio
securities). The Portfolio may also use derivatives, including: writing covered
call options and purchasing call and put options on individual equity
securities, securities indexes and foreign currencies. The Portfolio may also
purchase and sell stock index and foreign currency futures contracts and options
thereon.
When market or financial conditions warrant, or it appears that the Portfolio's
investment objective will not be achieved primarily through investments in
common stocks, the Portfolio may invest in other equity-type securities (such as
preferred stocks and convertible debt instruments) and options for hedging
purposes. The Portfolio may also make temporary investments in corporate fixed
income securities, which will generally be investment grade, or invest part of
its assets in cash or cash equivalents, including high-quality money market
instruments for liquidity or defensive purposes. Such investments could result
in the Portfolio not achieving its investment objective.
PRINCIPAL RISKS -- See EQ Advisors Trust Prospectus dated May 1, 2000
PORTFOLIO PERFORMANCE
The bar chart below illustrates the Portfolio's annual total returns for each of
the last ten calendar years ended December 31, 1999 and some of the risks of
investing in the Portfolio by showing yearly changes in the Portfolio's
performance. The table below shows the Portfolio's average annual total returns
for the past one, five and ten years ended December 31, 1999 and compares the
Portfolio's performance to: (i) the returns of a broad-based index; (ii) the
returns of a "blended" index of two broad-based indices; and (iii) the returns
of an index of funds with similar investment objectives. Past performance is not
an indicator of future performance.
The Portfolio's performance shown below is principally the performance of its
predecessor registered investment company (HRT/Alliance Aggressive Stock
Portfolio) managed by Alliance using the same investment objective for the
Portfolio and an investment strategy of investing in small-mid cap companies.
For these purposes, the Portfolio is considered to be the successor entity to
the predecessor registered investment company (HRT/Alliance Aggressive Stock
Portfolio) whose inception date is January 27, 1986. The assets of the
predecessor were transferred to the Portfolio on October 18, 1999. Following
that transfer, the performance shown (for the period October 19, 1999 through
December 31, 1999) is that of the Portfolio. For these purposes, the performance
results of the Portfolio and its predecessor registered investment company have
been linked.
Both the bar chart and table assume reinvestment of dividends and distributions.
The performance results do not reflect any insurance and Contract-related fees
and expenses, which would reduce the performance results.
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Calendar Year Annual Total Return
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8.2% 86.9% -3.2% 16.8% -3.8% 31.6% 22.2% 10.9% 0.3% 18.84%
1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999
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Best Quarter (% and time period) Worst Quarter (% and time period)
40.10% (1991 1st Quarter) (27.19)% (1998 3rd Quarter)
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AVERAGE ANNUAL TOTAL RETURNS -- CLASS IA SHARES
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ONE YEAR FIVE YEARS TEN YEARS
EQ/Aggressive Stock Portfolio
--Class IA Shares 18.84% 16.29% 16.68%
--Class IB Shares* 18.55% 16.05% 16.41%
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Russell 3000 Growth Index***, **** 12.08% 30.65% 19.51%
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50% S&P 400 MidCap Index/
50% Russell 2000** 18.09% 19.92% 15.41%
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S&P 400 MidCap Index** 14.72% 23.05% 17.32%
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Lipper MidCap Growth Funds Average** 46.25% 22.54% 16.19%
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* For periods prior to the inception of Class IB Shares (October 1, 1996),
performance information shown is the performance of Class IA shares
adjusted to reflect the 12b-1 fees paid by Class IB shares.
** For more information on this index, see the section in the Prospectus
entitled "The Benchmarks."
*** We believe that this index reflects more closely the market sectors in
which the Portfolio will invest after the transition period.
**** The Russell 3000 Growth Index is an unmanaged index that measures the
performance of those companies in the Russell 3000 Index with higher
price-to-book ratios and higher forecasted growth values. The Russell 3000
Index is an unmanaged index that tracks the performance of 3,000 largest
U.S. companies based on total market capitalization, which represents
approximately 98% of the investable U.S. equity market. Both indices are
compiled by the Frank Russell Company.
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WHO MANAGES THE PORTFOLIO
In accordance with the Multi-Manager Order, the Manager may, among other things,
select new or additional Advisers for the Portfolio and may allocate and
re-allocate the Portfolio's assets among Advisers. Currently, Alliance Capital
Management, L.P. and Massachusetts Financial Services Company have been selected
by the Manager to serve as Advisers for this Portfolio. It is anticipated that
additional Advisers may be added in the near future.
The Manager initially allocated the assets of the Portfolio and will allocate
all daily cash inflows (share purchases) and outflows (redemptions and expense
items) among the Advisers, subject to the oversight of the Board. The Manager
intends, on a periodic basis, to review the asset allocation in the Portfolio.
The Manager does not intend, but reserves the right, subject to the oversight of
the Board, to reallocate assets from one Adviser to another when it would be in
the best interest of the Portfolio and its shareholders to do so.
ALLIANCE CAPITAL MANAGEMENT, L.P. ("Alliance"), 1345 Avenue of the Americas, New
York, New York 10105. Alliance was the exclusive Adviser to the Portfolio and
its predecessor registered investment company since the predecessor commenced
operations. Alliance, a publicly traded limited partnership, is indirectly
majority-owned by Equitable. Alliance manages investment companies, endowment
funds, insurance companies, foreign entities, qualified and non-tax qualified
corporate funds, public and private pension and profit-sharing plans,
foundations and tax-exempt organizations.
Since September 2000, the Alliance portion of the Portfolio has been managed by
a combination of ARYEH GLATTER, who is a Vice-President of Alliance and has been
associated with Alliance since prior to 1995, and the Disciplined Growth
Investing and MidCap Growth teams of Alliance.
MASSACHUSETTS FINANCIAL SERVICES COMPANY ("MFS"), 500 Boylston Street, Boston,
MA 02116. MFS was added as an Adviser to the Portfolio as of May 1, 2000. MFS is
America's oldest mutual fund organization. MFS and its predecessor organizations
have a history of money management dating from 1924 and the founding of the
first mutual fund in the United States, Massachusetts Investors Trust. MFS is a
subsidiary of Sun Life of Canada (United States) Financial Services Holdings
Inc., which, in turn, is an indirectly wholly-owned subsidiary of Sun Life
Assurance Company of Canada. MFS advises the portion of the Portfolio that
invests principally in emerging growth companies.
The Portfolio Managers are TONI Y. SHIMURA, a Senior Vice President of MFS, who
has been employed by MFS as a portfolio manager since 1995 and JOHN W. BALLEN,
Chief Investment Officer and President of MFS, who provides general oversight in
the management of the MFS portion of Portfolio.
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