Baillie Gifford US Growth Trust Is Boosted by SpaceX, Moderna and Tesla

| Updated
by Godfrey Benjamin · 3 min read
Baillie Gifford US Growth Trust Is Boosted by SpaceX, Moderna and Tesla
Photo: Depositphotos

The British Trust has about 9.5% of its funds invested in Tesla. The EV company’s stock was the best performing on Wall Street last year after surging more than 700%.

Baillie Gifford US Growth Trust PLC (LON: USA) is a large British Investment Trust established in 2018, with the sole aim of tracking US-based investments has recorded a profitable last half of 2020, thanks to the trust’s bet on some strategic companies. As reported by Yahoo Finance, The Baillie Gifford US Growth Trust noted and attributed its impressive half-year performance to its bet on Elon Musk’s two companies including public-traded Tesla Inc (NASDAQ: TSLA), and Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) as well as in the shares of Biotech company Moderna Inc (NASDAQ: MRNA).

Per the report, the Growth Trust note on Monday that the net asset value of its investments grew 53.8% in the six months to 30 November 2020 while it raked in a pre-tax net return of £266m ($359.9m), or 98p per share. With a total of 800 million pounds of investors’ money tied down in these outperforming stocks, further growth in the course of this year will also translate to boosted growths in the trust.

With about 12% of its position invested in SpaceX, the trust’s management justified its position in the space exploration company noting that:

“SpaceX has been innovating at a breathtaking pace. 2020 was the year that America sent astronauts to the space station again. SpaceX’s crewed mission was a first for a private company. Starlink, SpaceX’s satellite-based high-speed broadband service is up and running in beta, with over 900 satellites orbiting the earth delivering internet to users. And in Texas, SpaceX has been rapidly developing its Starship rocket, the vehicle it hopes will take people back to the Moon and then on to Mars.”

These highlighted roadmaps are set to position the company on a path of profitability in the near future as many have earmarked 2021 as the breakout year for space travel companies.

Baillie Gifford Trust Portfolio

The British Trust has about 9.5% of its funds invested in Tesla. The EV company’s stock was the best performing on Wall Street last year after surging more than 700%. With a sizeable position in COVID-19 vaccine manufacturer Moderna, the Trust is reportedly impressed with its early bet in the company as of 2018 when it made its public debut. The mRNA-1273 vaccine will be the company’s flagship commercial product and Baillie Gifford believes the messenger RNA technology can be adopted in creating other drugs/vaccines.

Baillie Gifford also has about 6% of its liquidity pumped into Zoom Video Communications Inc (NASDAQ: ZM) and Netflix Inc (NASDAQ: NFLX) respectively. Huge bets on Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ: AMZN), and Wayfair Inc (NYSE: W) also shows the company has significant holdings in the top American e-commerce ecosystem.

“It has been a year of great pain and loss,” Baillie Gifford management wrote in the US Growth Trust’s half-year report. “But there has also been some important progress. As we look forward, we are optimistic about what the future holds.

Business News, Market News, News, Stocks
Related Articles