Ummmmmm. . .????
https://www.barrons.com/articles/apple-stock-microsoft-tesla-ge-51642623641
By: Ed Lin
Jan. 24, 2022 4:00 am ET
The pension of International Business Machines made big changes in its stock portfolio.
The IBM (IBM) Retirement Fund slashed investments in Apple (ticker: AAPL), Microsoft (MSFT), and Tesla ( TSLA ) in the fourth quarter; all three stocks outperformed last year. The fund also initiated a position in General Electric ( GE ) stock, which underperformed. The pension disclosed the trades in a form it filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The pension, which managed $805 million of U.S.-traded securities as of Dec. 31, didn’t respond to a request for comment.
IBM’s pension sold 186,471 Apple shares to end December with 257,023 shares of the maker of iPhones and Macs. The stock soared 34% in 2021, compared with a 27% rise in the S&P 500 index. So far this year, the stock has slipped 8.5%, while the index is 7.7% in the red.
Apple’s fiscal-fourth-quarter report disappointed as iPhone sales missed analysts’ expectations, and the top line also came up short. Earlier this month, before a market slump walloped tech stocks in particular, the company’s market capitalization topped $3 trillion—the first time for a publicly traded company. Analysts already see a path to a $4 trillion market cap.
The retirement fund sold 87,362 Microsoft shares to end the year with 125,487 shares of the software giant. The stock surged 51% in 2021; so far this year, it is down 12%.
Cloud software has powered Microsoft’s upbeat earnings reports. Last week, the company announced it agreed to acquire videogame publisher Activision Blizzard (ATVI) for nearly $70 billion dollars. Even before the deal was announced, Microsoft stock had boosters on Wall Street.
Tesla stock rose 50% in 2021; so far in 2022, shares of the electric-vehicle pioneer have slipped 11%.
CEO Elon Musk’s sales of Tesla stock late last year pressured shares, and the company announced a sizable recall near the end of December. A tough environment for richly valued shares has hurt Tesla stock even as Wall Street has been raising earnings estimates for the company.
IBM’s pension sold 9,062 Tesla shares to end the year with 13,468 shares.
The retirement fund bought 18,199 GE shares in the fourth quarter. It hadn’t owned any at the end of the third quarter. GE stock managed a 9.3% gain in 2021; so far in 2022, shares of the conglomerate are up 1.9%.
GE plans to split into three companies—focused on aerospace, healthcare, and power generation. One longtime bear isn’t upbeat on the prospects of the separation, but another analyst looks forward to upside in “the great unwinding.” We named GE’s Larry Culp to our Best CEOs list last year, praising his leadership in creating a more trim and more profitable company.