Investing

Calpers' Stock Purchases Show Some Confidence in US, Global Economies

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One of America’s most widely followed and well-respected pension funds — The California Public Employees Retirement System – sold far many more stocks than it bought in the first quarter. That dichotomy suggests that Calpers — as the fund is widely known — was not optimistic about equities in Q1.

On the other hand, however, several of the names that the fund did buy indicate that its view of the economy and stocks was not all “doom and gloom.”

Indeed, Calpers meaningfully increased its exposure to several stocks that would benefit from higher consumer spending and powerful economic growth in the U.S. and/or in other countries. Moreover, the fund bought one play on a rebound of the U.S. housing sector and another on a recovery of America’s consumer electronics sector.

The Golden State agency manages pension and health benefits for more than 1.5 million California public employees, retirees and their families. It has $439 billion of assets under management, and stands out among funds as the three top executives are women, including chief investment officer Nicole Musicco. The Calpers board is slated to meet this week.

Let’s take a look at a few of the stocks that Calpers bought, what the purchases could tell us about its view of sectors and the economy, and a number of the other large institutions that bought sizable amounts of the names in Q1.

Tesla (US:TSLA)

Calpers purchased 306,691 shares of Tesla (US:TSLA), increasing its total number of shares of the EV maker to 6.72 million. The move suggests that the fund expects the electric-vehicle revolution to continue and that TSLA would continue to be a leader in the space. The electric vehicle maker, which already as a large presence in the state, is moving its new engineering headquarters to Palo Alto, California, CEO Elon Musk (below, left) and Gov. Gavin Newsom (below, right) announced in February.

The purchases also indicate that Calpers was at least somewhat optimistic about the financial well-being of upper middle class and wealthy consumers in Europe, the U.S. and China.

With a Fintel Fund Sentiment Score of 86.86, TSLA remains a favorite of institutions worldwide. It ranks at 1,275 of the 36,054 stocks analyzed in the multi-factor quantitative model that identifies companies with the highest levels of institutional accumulation.

A few of the other large institutions that bought meaningful amounts of TSLA stock last quarter were Rockefeller Capital Management, which added 424,560 shares, UBS Asset Management Americas, which obtained over 12.9 million more shares, and investment manager T. Rowe Price, which added a huge 26.22 million shares, according to a May 15 form 13-F filing.

Home Depot (US:HD)

Calpers purchased nearly 180,000 shares of Home Depot (US:HD), increasing its total number of shares of the home improvement retailer to 3.18 million. The pension fund’s decision to meaningfully raise its stake in HD stock suggests that Calpers was at least somewhat upbeat about the purchasing power of American homeowners.

Additionally, given Home Depot’s high leverage to U.S. home sales, the move indicates that Calpers did not expect the U.S. residential real estate market to implode this year.

Among other major funds, Deutsche Bank acquired nearly 125,500 shares of HD stock, while Bank of America bought almost 1.5 million shares. BlackRock jumped in with a purchase of over 878,000 shares, bringing the world’s biggest asset manager’s stake to more than 75 million shares.

Texas Instruments (US:TXN)

Calpers boosted its stake in Texas Instruments (US:TXN) by more than 748,000 shares in Q1, increasing its total position in the chip maker to nearly 3.91 million.

Since TXN is highly leveraged to the European, American and Asian consumer electronics sectors and the regions’ industrial spaces, the move suggests that Calpers expected those sectors to meaningfully rebound this year.

BNP Paribas, Europe’s second biggest bank by total assets, bought more than 374,000 shares of TXN, while Citi acquired over 91,500 shares, and BlackRock snapped up 2.04 million shares.

This article originally appeared on Fintel

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