Tracking Baillie Gifford’s 13F Portfolio – Q1 2023 Update

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 5/3/2023. 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 Q4 2022. The 13F securities represent roughly 40% of their overall Assets Under Management. The portfolio is diversified with over 1000 13F securities. 55 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 increased from ~$96B to ~$111B. The number of holdings decreased from 1163 to 1111. The top three holdings are at ~19% while the top five holdings are close to ~27% of the 13F assets: MercadoLibre, Moderna, Tesla Motors, NVIDIA, and Amazon.com.

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), Carvana (CVNA), Certara (CERT), Chegg (CHGG), Cellectis (CLLS), Copa Holdings (CPA), Coursera (COUR), Datadog, Inc. (DDOG), Denali Therapeutics (DNLI), Digimarc (DMRC), EverQuote (EVER), Elastic NV (ESTC), Farfetch Ltd. (FTCH), Gingko Bioworks (DNA), HashiCorp (HCP), Howard Hughes Corp (HHC), Joby Aviation (JOBY), Jumia Technologies (JMIA), Lilium (LILM), Lemonade (LMND), LendingTree (TREE), Mobileye (MBLY), NuCana (NCNA), Nanobiotix (NBTX), Oscar Health (OSCR), Oatly (OTLY), Pacira Biosciences (PCRX), Peloton Interactive (PTON), Recursion Pharma (RXRX), Redfin Inc. (RDFN), Samsara Inc. (IOT), 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:

MercadoLibre, Inc. (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 saw trimming in most years. The last six quarters saw a one-third increase at prices between ~$635 and ~$1946. The stock currently trades at ~$1213. It is now the largest 13F position at 7.29% of the portfolio. There was a marginal further increase this quarter.

Note: they have a ~12% ownership stake in the business.

Moderna, Inc. (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 ~$134 and the top three stake is at 6.44% of the portfolio.

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 at 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 ~$104. It is still a top-three stake at 3.60% of the portfolio. The last two quarters have seen minor increases.

Sea Ltd. (SE): SE became a substantial stake in the portfolio in Q1 2020 when around 6M shares were purchased at prices between ~$38 and ~$52. The quarters since saw only minor activity. Q1 2022 saw a ~75% stake increase at prices between ~$88 and ~$223. The last quarter saw another ~20% stake increase at prices between ~$41 and ~$65. That was followed with a ~9% stake increase this quarter. The stock currently trades at ~$76.

Advanced Micro Devices (AMD): The 0.77% of the portfolio stake in AMD was primarily built this quarter at prices between ~$62 and ~$100 and the stock currently trades at $86.61.

Analog Devices (ADI), Doordash (DASH), Duolingo (DUOL), Meta Platforms (META), Nu Holdings (NU), and Royalty Pharma (RPRX): These small (less than ~1% of the portfolio each) stakes were increased during the quarter.

Stake Decreases:

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 with a ~55% selling in H2 2020 at prices between ~$81 and ~$235. The last nine quarters have seen another ~72% reduction at prices between ~$109 and ~$407. The stock currently trades at ~$161 and the stake is at 4.88%. They are harvesting gains.

NVIDIA Inc. (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 at prices between ~$125 and ~$330. The stock currently trades at ~$276 and the stake is at ~4% of the portfolio. Last quarter saw a ~14% stake increase while this quarter there was a ~8% trimming.

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 goes for ~$140. The valuation is now at ~$25B. H2 2019 saw a ~25% stake increase at prices between ~$112 and ~$157. That was followed with a ~27% increase over the three quarters through Q3 2022 at prices between ~$86 and ~$244. The last two quarters saw minor trimming.

Note: they have a ~14% ownership stake in the business.

Illumina, Inc. (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 ~$196. There was a ~21% selling in the last two quarters at prices between ~$189 and ~$243.

Note: they have a ~10% ownership stake in the business.

Shopify Inc. (SHOP): The ~3% of the portfolio SHOP stake was built in the 2017-2019 timeframe at very low prices. Since then, the position had seen minor trimming. The last three quarters saw a one-third stake increase at prices between ~$26 and ~$73. The stock currently trades at $57.30. There was a minor ~2% trimming this quarter.

The Trade Desk (TTD): The 2.52% 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 $61.44. The last two quarters have seen only minor adjustments.

Netflix, Inc. (NFLX): NFLX is a ~2% of the portfolio stake established in the 2015-2016 timeframe at prices up to ~$130. There was a ~20% trimming over the last two years. The stock currently trades at ~$321.

PDD Holdings Inc. (PDD): PDD is a ~2% of the portfolio stake built over the three years through 2021 at prices between ~$19 and ~$197. The stock currently trades at $64.14. The last five quarters have seen only minor adjustments.

DexCom, Inc. (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 at prices between ~$130 and ~$163. The stock currently trades at ~$117. The last several quarters have seen minor trimming.

Note: they have a ~4% ownership stake in the business.

Ferrari N.V. (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 last three quarters have seen another ~30% reduction at prices between ~$180 and ~$270. The stock currently trades at ~$292.

Coupang, Inc. (CPNG): CPNG had an IPO in Q1 2021. Shares started trading at ~$48 and currently goes for $17.21. The 1.62% 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.

Alnylam Pharma (ALNY): The bulk of the 1.56% of the portfolio stake in ALNY was built in 2019 at prices between ~$69 and ~$124. The stock currently trades at ~$205. The last five quarters have seen minor trimming.

Cloudflare, Inc. (NET): The 1.43% 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 $40.48. There was a minor ~2% trimming this quarter.

Note: they have a ~10% ownership stake in the business.

Elevance Health (ELV), previously Anthem: ELV is a 1.33% of the portfolio long-term stake. The position has wavered. Recent activity follows. Q4 2021 saw a ~15% stake increase at prices between ~$370 and ~$468 while in the next two quarters there was a similar reduction at prices between ~$428 and ~$530. The stock currently trades at ~$457. There was a ~25% reduction in the last three quarters.

Atlassian Corp. (TEAM): A large ~10.2M share stake in TEAM was built in 2016 at prices between ~$20 and ~$32. The period through 2020 saw a roughly one-third reduction through periodic selling at higher prices. 2021 had also seen a ~14% trimming at prices between ~$213 and ~$458. The stock is now at ~$150 and the stake is at 1.15% of the portfolio. There was a ~40% stake increase last quarter at prices between ~$116 and ~$243. This quarter saw a minor ~2% trimming.

Note: They have a ~5% ownership stake in the business.

NIO Inc. (NIO): NIO had an IPO in September 2018. Shares started trading at ~$8.50. The original position was acquired immediately after the IPO. The stock currently goes for $8.06. The stake is at 1.14% of the portfolio. The last quarter saw a ~25% stake increase at prices between ~$9.25 and ~$16.75. There was marginal trimming this quarter.

Albemarle Corporation (ALB), AJ Gallagher & Co (AJG), Alphabet Inc. (GOOG), BioNTech (BNTX), BeiGene Ltd. (BGNE), Booking Holdings (BKNG), Charles Schwab (SCHW), Chewy, Inc. (CHWY), CoStar Group (CSGP), Estee Lauder (EL), Intuitive Surgical (ISRG), Martin Marietta Materials (MLM), Mastercard Inc. (MA), Microsoft Corp. (MSFT), Moody’s Corp. (MCO), NovoCure Ltd. (NVCR), Petrobras Brasileiro (PBR), Roblox Inc. (RBLX), Ryanair ADR (RYAAY), Service Corp International (SCI), Snowflake (SNOW), S&P Global (SPGI), Thermo Fisher Scientific (TMO), TSMC ADR (TSM), Workday Inc. (WDAY), Wix.com (WIX), Watsco, Inc. (WSO), and Zoom Video (ZM): These small (less than ~1.5% of the portfolio each) stakes were reduced during the quarter.

The spreadsheet below highlights changes to Baillie Gifford’ 13F holdings in Q1 2023:

Source: John Vincent. Data constructed from Baillie Gifford’ 13F filings for Q4 2022 and Q1 2023.