Harvard University Stocks List: Top 12 Picks

Ruchi Gupta
10 min read

In This Article:

In this piece, we will take a look at Harvard University stocks list: top 12 picks. If you want to skip our introduction to the institutional investor, then take a look at Harvard University Stocks List: Top 5 Picks.

This year turned out to be one of the best years for stocks after a tumultuous 2022 fueled by runaway inflation, monetary policy uncertainty, and recession fears. Tech stocks have outperformed the overall market, as depicted by the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100, rallying by more than 40%. The rally in the equity market has come on the back of easing inflationary pressures and growing confidence that the Federal Reserve has peaked on monetary policy tightening. 

Asset manager Harvard Management Company (HMC), which manages funds in Harvard University's $53 billion endowment, has been one of the beneficiaries of the rally in the equity markets. Established in 1974, the asset manager has delivered impressive results due to its financial market diversification. 

Harvard Management Company allocates nearly 39% of its endowment portfolio to private equity, with 31% of the portfolio value going towards hedge funds. Public equity made up of tech stocks accounts for about 11% of the $888 million that the asset manager manages. Real estate accounts for 5% of the portfolio, with bonds accounting for 6%, cash at 5% and other real assets at 3%. 

HMC's investment strategy relies on a generalist model of breaking down silos among asset classes in search of the most attractive risk-adjusted returns. Central to the investment culture is the belief that a disciplined set of processes executed by a capable and experienced team will always generate superior returns in the long run. Consequently, the asset manager focuses on building investment processes and supporting analytics while maintaining partnerships with world-class asset managers. 

For the 2023 fiscal year ending June 30, Harvard's endowment delivered a 2.9% return, with investments generating about $1.3 billion. The endowment's value stood at $50.7 billion, the largest of any university in the US. While alternative investments, which make up the majority of the endowment portfolio, affected the asset manager's performance, it still outperformed its peers. 

In contrast, MIT and Duke Universities delivered 2.9% and 1% investment losses, affirming Harvard University's edge in the investment world.

Harvard Management Company bouncing back to profitability after a 1.8% loss on investments in fiscal 2022 came against strong exposure in high-flying tech stocks. Over the past six years, the Harvard Management Company has delivered a 9.2% annualized return, affirming its edge in picking stocks that outperform the overall market. 

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