The ClearBridge Large Cap Growth Strategy underperformed its Russell 1000 Growth Index benchmark in the third quarter, despite positive contributions from six of the nine sectors in which it was invested.
The primary contributor to performance was the IT sector, while the health care and financials sectors were the main detractors.
During the third quarter, the fund initiated a new position in Oracle (NYSE:ORCL), Datadog (NASDAQ:DDOG) and Fair Isaac (NYSE:FICO).
The fund also repurchased Chipotle Mexican Grill (NYSE:CMG), increased its position in Starbucks (NASDAQ:SBUX) and added Parker-Hannifin (NYSE:PH). It also expanded its stake in RTX (NYSE:RTX) and Airbus (OTCPK:EADSF).
On the sell-side, the fund exited positions in Workday (NASDAQ:WDAY) and Accenture (NYSE:ACN) due to decelerating fundamental growth and growing risks around AI.
The fund, in its fund letter, mentioned that it also exited UnitedHealth (NYSE:UNH), Eli Lilly (LLY), Novo Nordisk (NVO) and Zoetis (NYSE:ZTS), stating that the health care sector is facing a myriad of questions around underlying spending levels, tariff concerns and regulatory risks.