Text size
Zurich’s Julius Baer increased his stake in Intel in the fourth quarter.
David Paul Morris/Bloomberg
A major Swiss bank made a call on chip stocks and loaded up on media and entertainment stocks.
Julius Baer from Zurich bought
Intel
(symbol: INTC), Walt
disney
(DIS), and
AT&T
(T)stock, and sold the vast majority of its investment in
Advanced micro-systems
(AMD) in the fourth quarter. The private bank disclosed the stock trades in a form it filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The bank said it does not comment on individual holdings. It had assets under management of $470 billion at the end of October.
Intel
the stock fell 49% in 2022, compared to a drop of 19% in
S&P 500 index.
So far in 2023, stocks are up 6.5%, compared to a 6.0% rise in the index. Julius Baer bought an additional 21,715 shares of Intel to end the fourth quarter with 198,392.
The company’s fourth-quarter report and financial guidance, released Thursday, was disappointing, showing that PC demand continues to plunge. Earnings reports and forecasts released last year were also peppered with weaker-than-expected numbers. Job cuts remain on the table.
Disney stock, meanwhile, fell 44% in 2022, but so far this year shares have jumped 26%. Julius Baer bought an additional 36,617 Disney shares to end 2022 with 359,185.
In November, Disney CEO Bob Chapek wrote in an internal memo that layoffs were likely, along with other cost-cutting measures. Before the end of the month, Chapek himself was out, replaced by his predecessor, Bob Iger. In January, activist investor Nelson Peltz knocked on the door of the Magic Kingdom.
AT&T stock slipped just 1% in 2022, after adjusting for the merger of its media assets with Discover to form
Discovery of Warner Bros.
(WBD). So far this year, AT&T shares have gained 8.4%. The bank bought an additional 112,078 shares to end 2022 with 759,763 shares of the telecoms giant.
Earlier this month, AT&T reported a strong fourth quarter, marked by wireless subscriber gains and charges from its landline business. Chief Financial Officer Pascal Desroches said the security of his dividend “is very high”.
AMD’s third quarter, announced on November 1, was weaker than expected. CEO Lisa Su said Barrons early 2023 that AMD was focusing on artificial intelligence. “AI has been around for a while,” Su said, “but we’re at an inflection point, touching all of our technologies, from chips for consumer devices to the biggest chips we’re building for data centers. You need an AI capability in each of these devices.
AMD stock has fallen 55% in 2022, but so far this year the stock is up 16%. Julius Baer sold 788,875 AMD shares to reduce his investment to 71,364.
Inside Scoop is a regular Barron column that covers the stock trading of corporate executives and board members – the so-called insiders – as well as major shareholders, politicians and other high profile figures. Because of their insider status, these investors are required to disclose stock trades to the Securities and Exchange Commission or other regulatory groups.
Write to Ed Lin at edward.lin@barrons.com and follow @BarronsEdLin.