Bailard, Inc. was founded in 1969 by three alumni of Stanford Graduate School of Business, Tom Bailard, Larry Biehl and Ron Kaiser. In the 1990s, the company, which was initially named Bailard, Biehl & Kaiser, started to manage investments for pension funds, endowments and foundations, and launched a commercial real estate fund for high-net-worth individuals and institutions. In 2005, the company changed its name to Bailard, Inc. and introduced a tactical asset allocation strategy for Bailard Wealth Management Clients.
With around $3.6 billion in assets under management, Bailard is led by Peter Hill, who is the company’s CEO and Chairman; Burnie Sparks, President, and Sonya Thadhani, Executive VP, COO and CRO. Tom Bailard, the only founder that is still at the firm, assists with Bailard’s real estate investments.
The company pursues several strategies, each focused on a single asset class: equity, real estate, alternative investments, and fixed income. It uses both quantitative and qualitative approaches to identify investments for each of its strategies.
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One of Bailard’s equity strategies is the Large Growth/Technology & Science strategy that is focused on tech and healthcare stocks. The strategy contains a diversified portfolio of around 70 stocks, which seeks to outperform the S&P North American Tech Index. The portfolio is mainly focused on tech stocks, with software, Internet software & services, semiconductors & equipment, and IT Services amassing over 70%. Over the last year, Bailard’s Large Growth/Technology & Science strategy returned 11.8% net of fees, while since inception, the strategy registered annualized returns of 5.8% net of fees, slightly underperforming the S&P North American Tech Index, which posted annualized gains of 5.9% over the same period.
In addition, Bailard also has an international equity strategy, which includes a portfolio of 125 to 200 securities from different countries. The strategy aims to generate returns comparable to the MSCI EAFE Index and returned 16.6% net of fees over the 12-month period ended June 30, underperforming the benchmark, which gained around 20.3%. Bailard’s other two equity strategies are Emerging Markets and Small Value. The Emerging Markets strategy posted an annualized return of 2.1% over the last decade, beating the benchmark MSCI Emerging Markets Index by 20 basis points.
Bailard Inc’s latest 13F filing revealed an equity portfolio worth $1.31 billion as of the end of September. The fund is heavily invested in ETFs, which represent 87 out of 297 positions, including the eight largest holdings in terms of value. Bailard’s ETF holdings collectively amass over 52% of its equity portfolio value.
In line with its tech-focused equity strategy, Bailard is also bullish on many technology stocks, five of which are among the fund’s top 10 non-ETF positions. In this article, we are going to take a closer look at these positions. Head to the next page for a look at its holding in Alphabet, Apple, and other tech giants.
