This article is part of a series that provides an ongoing analysis of the changes made to Baillie Gifford’s 13F portfolio on a quarterly basis. It is based on their regulatory 13F Form filed on 11/13/2023. Please visit our Tracking Baillie Gifford 13F Portfolio series to get an idea of their investment philosophy and our last update for the fund’s moves during Q2 2023. The 13F securities represent roughly 40% of their overall Assets Under Management. The portfolio is diversified with around 300 13F securities. 50 of those positions are significantly large (more than ~0.5% of the portfolio) and they are the focus of this article.
This quarter, Baillie Gifford’s 13F portfolio value decreased from ~$118B to ~$110B. The top three holdings are at ~17% while the top five holdings are close to ~26% of the 13F assets: MercadoLibre, NVIDIA, Tesla, Amazon.com, and Moderna.
Note: Although the following positions are really small compared to the overall size of the portfolio, it is significant that they have sizable ownership stakes: 10x Genomics (TXG), AbCellera Biologics (ABCL), Abcam plc (ABCM), Adaptimmune Therapeutics (ADAP), Affirm Holdings (AFRM), Akili, Inc. (AKLI), American Superconductor (AMSC), Appian Corporation (APPN), Axon Enterprise (AXON), Broadridge Financial (BR), Certara (CERT), Chegg (CHGG), Cellectis (CLLS), Copa Holdings (CPA), Coursera (COUR), Denali Therapeutics (DNLI), Digimarc (DMRC), EverQuote (EVER), Farfetch Ltd. (FTCH), Gingko Bioworks (DNA), HashiCorp (HCP), Howard Hughes (HHH), Joby Aviation (JOBY), Jumia Technologies (JMIA), Lemonade (LMND), Mobileye (MBLY), NuCana (NCNA), Nanobiotix (NBTX), Oscar Health (OSCR), Oatly (OTLY), Pacira BioSciences (PCRX), Recursion Pharma (RXRX), Redfin (RDFN), Sana Biotech (SANA), SiteOne (SITE), STAAR Surgical (STAA), Sweetgreen (SG), Teladoc (TDOC), Tencent Music Entertainment (TME), Upwork (UPWK), Warby Parker (WRBY), Wayfair Inc. (W), and Zillow Group (Z).
Stake Increases:
Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN): AMZN stake was a very small position purchased in 2004. The period through 2009 saw a large position built at very low prices. Since 2014, the position has seen selling. Recent activity follows. 2020 saw a one-third reduction in prices between ~$89 and ~$170. The six quarters through Q2 2022 had seen another ~40% selling at prices between ~$102 and ~$187. The stock is now at ~$146. It is still a top-five stake at 4.79% of the portfolio. The last four quarters have seen minor increases.
PDD Holdings Inc. (PDD): PDD is a 3.19% of the portfolio stake built over the three years through 2021 at prices between ~$19 and ~$197. The stock currently trades at ~$111. There was a ~11% stake increase last quarter and that was followed by a ~15% increase this quarter at prices between ~$68 and ~$103.
Coupang (CPNG): CPNG had an IPO in Q1 2021. Shares started trading at ~$48 and currently go for $15.85. The 1.86% of the portfolio stake was built over the five quarters through Q1 2022 at prices between ~$17.50 and ~$48.50. The last few quarters have seen only minor adjustments.
Meta Platforms (META) and Sea Ltd. (SE): The small 1.17% stake in META was increased by 12% this quarter at prices between $283.25 and $325.48. The stock currently trades at ~$336. The small ~1% position in SE was increased by 20% this quarter at prices between ~$35 and ~$67. The stock is now at $35.87.
BeiGene, Ltd. (BGNE), BioNTech (BNTX), Duolingo (DUOL), HDFC Bank (HDB), and Samsara (IOT): These very small (less than ~1% of the portfolio each) stakes were increased during the quarter.
Stake Decreases:
MercadoLibre (MELI): MELI position goes back to 2010 when a 2.25M share stake was built at prices between ~$35 and ~$73. The position size peaked at 6.56M shares in 2014. The stake increase happened at prices between ~$60 and ~$140. Since then, the position has seen trimming in most years. The two years through Q2 2023 saw a ~39% increase in prices between ~$635 and ~$1946. The stock currently trades at ~$1431. It is now the largest 13F position at ~7% of the portfolio. There was a ~6% trimming this quarter.
Note: they have a ~12% ownership stake in the business.
NVIDIA (NVDA): A large stake in NVDA was first purchased in 2016 at prices up to ~$28. The position has seen periodic selling since. Recent activity follows. The six quarters through Q2 2022 saw a ~20% reduction in prices between ~$125 and ~$330. That was followed by a 12% selling this quarter at prices between ~$409 and ~$494. The stock currently trades at ~$497 and the stake is now the second largest at ~5.47% of the portfolio.
Tesla (TSLA): The TSLA stake was first purchased in 2013 at very low prices. The period through 2019 saw the original position almost triple at prices up to ~$28. There was minor trimming in the next two quarters and that was followed by a ~55% selling in H2 2020 at prices between ~$81 and ~$235. The last eleven quarters have seen another ~83% reduction in prices between ~$109 and ~$407. The stock currently trades at ~$237 and it is still a top three stake at ~5% of the portfolio. They are harvesting gains.
Moderna (MRNA): A small position in MRNA was established in Q1 2020. H2 2020 saw the position built to over 24M shares at prices between ~$58 and ~$157. Next quarter saw another ~85% stake increase at prices between ~$105 and ~$184. Since then, the activity has been minor. The stock currently trades at ~$74 and the top five stake is at 4.30% of the portfolio.
Spotify (SPOT): The original SPOT position goes back to a Series G funding round in 2015 when the company was valued at ~$8B. They had an IPO in 2018. Shares started trading at ~$150 and currently go for ~$174. H2 2019 saw a ~25% stake increase at prices between ~$112 and ~$157. That was followed by a ~27% increase over the three quarters through Q3 2022 at prices between ~$86 and ~$244. The last four quarters saw minor trimming.
Note: they have a ~12% ownership stake in the business.
The Trade Desk (TTD): The 3.19% TTD position was first purchased in the 2018-2019 timeframe at prices up to ~$28. H1 2021 saw a ~80% stake increase at prices between ~$52 and ~$90. The three quarters through Q3 2022 had seen a ~16% trimming. The stock currently trades at ~$68. The last four quarters have seen only minor adjustments.
Shopify Inc. (SHOP): The 3.12% of the portfolio SHOP stake was built in the 2017-2019 timeframe at very low prices. Since then, the position has seen minor trimming. The last three quarters of 2022 saw a one-third stake increase at prices between ~$26 and ~$73. The stock currently trades at $65.52. The last few quarters saw minor trimming.
Ferrari (RACE): RACE was a ~18M shares stake that was established in 2016 at prices between $34 and $58. The period through 2020 saw the stake reduced to ~13.5M shares at higher prices. There was a ~15% selling in Q2 2021 at prices between ~$199 and ~$217. The three quarters through Q1 2023 saw another ~30% reduction at prices between ~$180 and ~$270. The stock currently trades at ~$354. There was minor trimming in the last two quarters.
Netflix (NFLX): NFLX is a 1.83% of the portfolio stake established in the 2015-2016 timeframe at prices up to ~$130. There was a ~20% trimming over the two years through Q1 2023. That was followed by a ~15% reduction last quarter at prices between ~$318 and ~$445. The stock currently trades at ~$449. This quarter saw a ~6% further trimming.
Cloudflare (NET): The 1.79% NET stake was purchased during Q2 and Q3 2020 at prices between ~$21 and ~$42. The three quarters through Q2 2022 saw a ~19% selling while the next two quarters saw a ~10% increase. The stock currently trades at $70.61. There was a ~23% stake increase last quarter at prices between ~$41 and ~$71. There was marginal trimming this quarter.
Note: they have a ~11% ownership stake in the business.
DexCom (DXCM): A small stake in DXCM was first purchased in 2012. The stake remained small till 2016 when a substantial ~6.1M share position was built in the low-20s price range. The period through 2019 saw the stake reduced to ~4.8M shares through periodic selling. Recent activity follows. There was a ~30% stake increase in Q4 2020 at prices between ~$79 and ~$103. Q4 2021 saw a ~16% reduction in prices between ~$130 and ~$163. The stock currently trades at ~$101. The last several quarters have seen minor trimming.
Alnylam Pharmaceuticals (ALNY): The bulk of the 1.32% of the portfolio stake in ALNY was built in 2019 at prices between ~$69 and ~$124. The stock currently trades at ~$170. The last seven quarters have seen minor trimming.
Illumina (ILMN): The ILMN stake goes back over a decade to 2011 when a large 13.5M shares stake was built at prices between ~$25 and ~$75 per share. The period through 2020 saw a ~50% stake increase through incremental buying at higher prices. The stock currently trades at ~$98. There was a ~30% selling in the last three quarters at prices between ~$189 and ~$243. That was followed by a ~25% reduction this quarter at prices between ~$129 and ~$192.
Note: they have a ~7% ownership stake in the business.
Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (AJG), Analog Devices (ADI), Atlassian (TEAM), Alphabet (GOOG), Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), Chewy (CHWY), CoStar Group (CSGP), DoorDash (DASH), Datadog (DDOG), Elevance Health (ELV), Elastic (ESTC), Intuitive Surgical (ISRG), Microsoft (MSFT), Moody’s (MCO), Martin Marietta Materials (MLM), Mastercard (MA), NIO (NIO), Nu Holdings (NU), Petrobras (PBR), Roblox (RBLX), Ryanair (RYAAY), Service Corporation International (SCI), Snowflake (SNOW), TSMC (TSM), Wix.com (WIX), Watsco (WSO), and Workday (WDAY): These small (less than ~2% of the portfolio each) stakes were reduced this quarter.
The spreadsheet below highlights changes to Baillie Gifford’s 13F holdings in Q3 2023:
Baillie Gifford’s Q3 2023 13F Report Q/Q Comparison (John Vincent (author))
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