Al Gore’s Firm Bought Intel and Alibaba Stock. It Sold Texas Instruments.

The firm also detailed its investment in

Toast

(TOST), which provides a software platform for restaurants, and halved its investment in chip maker

Texas Instruments

(TXN) in the period.

Generation reported the stock trades, among others, in a form it filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. It didn’t respond to a request for comment.

The firm’s largest public fund under its management, Lombard Odier Funds-Generation Global, has been coming up short in 2021 against its benchmark, the

MSCI World Index.
But the fund is even for the one-year period, and is trouncing the index for periods longer than that. Generation overall managed $30.7 billion in assets as of Dec. 31, 2020.

Generation, which is focused on environmental, social and governance (ESG) investing, bought 5.3 million more Intel shares to end September with 12.4 million shares. It had initiated a position in Intel in the second quarter of 7 million shares.

Intel stock rose 6.9% in the first nine months of the year, and has slipped 8.5% so far in the fourth quarter. For comparison, the

S&P 500 index
rose 15% in the first nine months of 2021, and has gained 6.7% so far in the fourth quarter.

Recently, Intel has seen significant stock purchases by insiders, including CEO Pat Gelsinger and Chairman Omar Ishrak. Earlier this year, Gelsinger pledged to build factories in Arizona to help address the current chip shortage. In late October, Intel reported a mixed third quarter, and said Chief Financial Officer George Davis would retire in May 2022.

Generation bought 969,061 more ADRs of Chinese online giant Alibaba to end September with 4.9 million ADRs. In the second quarter, Generation bought 921,211 Alibaba ADRs. The ADRs tumbled 36% in the first nine months of the year; so far in the fourth quarter, they are down 10%.

Alibaba ADRs reached a multiyear low last week, and investing in Chinese securities remains risky in the face of regulatory pressure. On that front, however, the worst may be over.

Toast stock has gained about 8% since its initial public offering in late September priced shares at $40 each. The company posted a better-than-expected third quarter earlier this month, but the stock slipped as early so-called lockup agreements expired, and allowed some employees and consultants to sell their shares.

Generation had invested in Toast before the IPO, and owned 875,000 of the publicly traded shares as of Sept. 30. According to an October filing from Generation, it also owns 1,642,738 of Toast’s supervoting Class B shares, which don’t trade publicly. Each class B share carries 10 votes, while the publicly traded shares have one each, although the Class B shares are convertible into the publicly traded shares at any time on a one-to-one basis. Overall, Generation owns a 9.45% stake in Toast.

Generation sold 1 million shares of Texas Instruments to end the third quarter with 670,135 shares. Texas Instruments stock rose 17% in the first nine months of 2021, and has slipped 2% so far in the fourth quarter.

Earlier this month, Texas Instruments said it would build wafer-fabrication plants in northern Texas. The company met third-quarter expectations when it reported earnings in late October. In September, Texas Instruments raised its quarterly dividend.

Inside Scoop is a regular Barron’s feature covering stock transactions by corporate executives and board members–so-called insiders–as well as large shareholders, politicians, and other prominent figures. Due to their insider status, these investors are required to disclose stock trades with the Securities and Exchange Commission or other regulatory groups.

Write to Ed Lin at edward.lin@barrons.com and follow @BarronsEdLin.