Blackrock is one of the leading providers of model portfolios. Currently, the asset manager is overweight megacap tech stocks. It sees strong earnings momentum and growth upside in addition to resilient balance sheets. These companies are more insulated from high rates as they aren’t reliant on bond markets for financing. 

The stock market rally in 2023 has been defined by a handful of stocks, powering the indexes higher. In contrast, smaller stocks and the broader market have struggled. Many analysts have cited this divergence as one reason to question the durability of recent stock market gains. 

YTD, the Nasdaq 100 is nearly 40% higher due to strong gains from companies like Nvidia, Meta, and Tesla. In contrast, the S&P 500 is up 14%. Currently, Blackrock’s model portfolios have about $100 billion tracking these stocks. This is particularly significant as the entire model portfolio asset base is estimated to be $4.2 billion. 

According to Tushar Yadava, a strategist with Blackrock’s Multi-Asset Strategies & Solutions group, Blackrock has been mostly overweight equities this year, although the firm did briefly go underweight in the spring of this year, following the regional banking crisis. Earlier in the year, it anticipated that the stock market rally would eventually broaden out, but this hasn’t happened yet.

Finsum: Blackrock is overweight megacap tech in its model portfolios as it favors companies with earnings momentum and strong balance sheets.