Ed Lin

America's largest public pension recently made major changes in some of its most volatile investments.

California Public Employees' Retirement System sold shares of chip maker Nvidia, server maker Super Micro Computer, and telecom firm AT&T, and bought more shares of the electric-vehicle manufacturer Rivian Automotive in the fourth quarter. Calpers, as the pension is known, disclosed the stock trades, among others, in a form it filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

In response to a request for comment, Calpers said in a email that its "global public equities are largely managed using quantitative and systematic investment approaches. Consequently, we generally do not comment on our individual holdings or trades."

It manages assets of more than $500 billion, more than any other U.S. public pension.

Nvidia stock rocketed 171% in 2024, trouncing the 23% rise in the S&P 500 index. So far this year, shares are about flat, compared with a 2.2% gain in the index.

Nvidia stock tumbled in late January after the Chinese artificial-intelligence platform DeepSeek showed prowess, apparently at a lower cost than American AI models. That raised concern over whether U.S. tech firm will need to spend as heavily as they have been on AI hardware, including Nvidia chips. Nvidia shares recovered as the weeks went by, however.

Calpers sold 5.6 million Nvidia shares to end the fourth quarter with 59.7 million shares.

The pension sold 256,743 Super Micro shares in the fourth quarter to cut its stake to 614,287 shares.

Super Micro stock's journey to become a top performer in the S&P 500 so far in 2025 followed a few months of uncertainty. The shares had been targeted in a short seller's report a few months ago, and as 2024 wound down, Super Micro seemed in danger of being delisted by Nasdaq. The company still isn't up to date with filing its quarterly results, but has inspired investors with an upbeat outlook.

Super Micro stock ended 2024 with a 7.2% rise. So far this year, the shares are up 84%.

AT&T stock surged 36% in 2024, and so far in 2025 shares are up 17%.

The stock has been rising since AT&T abandoned a push into the media space. Recent strong earnings reports have helped as well. Subscriber growth has been a particularly bright spot.

Calpers sold 4.2 million AT&T shares in the fourth quarter to cut its stake to 25.2 million shares.

The pension bought 208,326 more Rivian shares to lift its investment to 1.3 million shares.

Cash infusions of billions of dollars from Volkswagen injected life into Rivian last year, but a buyout that some investors had been hoping for didn't materialize. The shares got a boost in early February after Rivian said it would sell its electric delivery vans to companies apart from Amazon.com, which owns about a 16% Rivian stake. A mixed fourth-quarter report last week sent shares lower.

Rivian stock dropped 43% in 2024, and so far this year shares are down 2.5%.

Inside Scoop is a regular Barron's feature covering stock transactions by corporate executives and board members -- so-called insiders -- as well as large shareholders, politicians, and other prominent figures. Due to 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 ed.lin@barrons.com

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February 28, 2025 21:30 ET (02:30 GMT)

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