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Pension giant Calpers took on volatile stocks including gaming company Roblox in the second quarter.
Courtesy Roblox
The largest public pension in the United States has made major changes to his investment portfolio, increasing his holdings of volatile stocks.
The California Public Employees Retirement System has bought more shares in the video game company
Roblox
(ticker: RBLX), an electric car maker
Lucid Group
(LCID), the personal computer giant
HP
(HPQ), while it cut about a fifth of its stake in the chip maker
Intel
(INTC) in the second quarter. Calpers, as the annuity is known, disclosed stock trades in, among other things, the presented model With the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Calpers said it does not comment on its individual properties. Manages Assets of about $ 467 billion.
Roblox stock is up 42% in the first half of 2023, compared to a 16% rise in
S&P 500 index.
So far in the third quarter, shares are down 26%, while the index has held flat. In 2022, Roblox stock collapsed by 72% while the S&P 500 fell by 19%.
Roblox’s last two quarterly reports – one of which is in last week And the other in May – both disappointing. The decline in the stock price after the last quarter has evaporated nearly all of its 2023 gains. In May, the company I directed the shot From the children’s advertising watchdog for allegedly failing to inform its users that some of the content in the games was advertising. “Roblox has strong policies and procedures in place that go beyond its legal obligations in order to create a safe environment for all users,” the company said in a statement at the time.
Calpers purchased an additional 276,271 shares of Roblox in the second quarter through the end of June with 831,093 shares. If the pensioner still owns those shares, their value would have fallen by about $9 million — to $24.8 million from $33.5 million — since June 30.
The annuity purchased an additional 170,435 shares of Lucid to end the second quarter at 1 million shares.
Lucid stock has rebounded from a 52-week low in June, but price cuts and a disappointing second-quarter report have pressured the stock lately. Barron I noticed that Lucid might be easier if it sold cars at $400,000 instead of $100,000.
Lucid stock has been flat in the first half of 2023, after dropping 82% in 2022. So far in the third quarter, shares are down 3.6%.
HP stock is up 14% in the first half of 2023, after falling 29% last year. So far in the third quarter, shares are up 6.7%.
HP’s earnings report for its fiscal second quarter, released at the end of May, missed analyst estimates. PC shipments remained weak in the second quarter, but HP and
apple
(AAPL) They both outperform the industry. CEO Enrique Lloris You expect demand for computers to rebound After retreating at the end of the epidemic wave.
Calpers purchased an additional 842,460 shares in HP, ending the second quarter with 2.9 million shares.
The annuity sold 2 million shares of Intel stock, ending in June at 7.8 million shares.
Intel shares are up 26.5% in the first half of 2023, after falling 49% in 2022. So far in the third quarter, shares are up 4.3%.
Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger bought the shares this year, while Intel itself was cutting investments in a video-on-demand products company and a maker of flying cars. Some observers believe that Intel needs to focus more on artificial intelligence to grow.
The Inside Scoop is a regular Barron’s feature that covers stock transactions by corporate executives and board members—called insiders—as well as major shareholders, politicians, and other notable people. Because of their insider status, these investors are required to disclose stock trades with the Securities and Exchange Commission or other regulatory groups.
Write to Ed Lin at edward.lin@barrons.com and follow up @tweet.