Harvard Endowment Favors Mix of ETFs, International Names

Though the market downturn was devastating for the Harvard endowment, 2009’s extend rally has kept the more dire forecasts from being realized.

According to Bloomberg, the value of Harvard’s investments fell by -27.3% in the year ended June 30, not as bad as the -30% decline that had been predicted and not as bad as the hits that other institutional investors took.

Though the endowment has substantial investments in alternative assets like real estate and private equity, investors can get a sense of Harvard’s strategy by looking at its U.S.-listed, equity holdings. They turn out to be quite diversified, with an international bias that makes ample use of a variety of ETFs.

Looking at Harvard’s top U.S.-listed holdings at the end of Q3, which were recently disclosed to the SEC, the largest U.S.-listed, equity holding by a wide margin was ETF iShares MSCI Emerging Markets Index (EEM), where Harvard was adding its stake during the quarter.

Meanwhile, Harvard was upping its exposure to individual emerging and overseas markets via increased stakes in a variety of ETFs, including iShares FTSE/Xinhua China 25 Index (FXI), iShares MSCI Brazil Index (EWZ), iPath MSCI India Index ETN (INP), iShares MSCI Taiwan Index (EWT), iShares MSCI Malaysia Index (EWM), and iShares MSCI South Africa Index (EZA).

Harvard also trimmed its stake in mobile telecom firm China Mobile (CHL), increased its stake in Israeli pharmaceutical company Teva Pharmaceutical Industries (TEVA), and opened a new stake in recent IPO Starwood Property Trust (STWD).

Looking at tickerspy.com’s graph charting the performance of the Harvard’s end-of-Q3 holdings so far in Q4, one can see that the holdings have outperformed the rising market. If you want to see how your performance stacks up to Harvard’s or see some of the other stocks and ETFs it’s invested in, visit tickerspy.com to see Harvard’s top holdings and a chart of their combined performance.

Pro portfolio performance is based on institutions’ top-15 holdings as disclosed in quarter-end filings with the SEC. Pro performance does not take into account additional holdings beyond the top 15 nor does it include positions that are not required to be disclosed by the SEC. As such, Pro portfolio performance should be considered an approximation and not a precise record of how an institution has performed over time.

Tags: CHL, EEM, EWM, EWT, EWZ, EZA, FXI, INP, STWD, TEVA