Neuberger Berman Group Llc doubles down on AI leaders and GLP‑1 health

The biggest adds cluster around three ideas: AI compute infrastructure, scaled consumer platforms, and durable, fee‑rich financials.

On AI, the move is decisive. They lifted NVIDIA by +8.5% and AMD by +59.1%, even though both sit far above their average cost (NVIDIA up 570.3% vs buy‑in, AMD up 169.8%). This is not profit‑taking; it is the opposite – a belief that GPU and accelerator demand has another leg.

On the consumer side, they added to Amazon (+6.5%) and Netflix (+42.2%), signaling confidence that ecommerce, cloud, and streaming pricing power can ride out macro chop. Both are now meaningful growth levers within a Consumer Discretionary sleeve that rose to 14.53%.

Health care gets a notable upgrade with a new $518.7M AstraZeneca stake at 0.39% of the book, alongside an existing Eli Lilly position already up 226.1% vs cost. That pairing reads like a deliberate health‑span and obesity/oncology complex, not generic pharma.

They also stepped up exposure to fee‑generative and index‑tied assets: S&P Global was increased (+5.8%), Blackstone rose (+9.8%), and broad S&P 500 exposure via IVV (+29.2%) and VOO (+9.0%) expanded. The in‑house Neuberger Core Equity ETF (NBCR) was boosted +18.4%, anchoring more of the book in their own diversified core process.

The sells are subtle in size but sharp in pattern: Neuberger is clipping mature winners and cyclical exposures to fund higher‑octane themes.

In big tech, Microsoft (-3.1%), Apple (-1.9%), Google’s Class C (-2.2%), and Oracle (-5.7%) are all modestly trimmed while NVIDIA, AMD, Alphabet Class A, and Meta see net adds. That rotation suggests they see more incremental upside in AI compute and data‑intensive platforms than in slower‑growing, already‑re‑rated software incumbents.

Traditional energy is a clear funding source. Exxon Mobil (-8.7%) and Chevron (-10.5%) were meaningfully reduced, as were midstream names Williams (-2.4%), Targa (-3.0%), Cheniere (-6.1%), and Enterprise Products (-4.6%). With Energy weight slipping to 2.99% and Utilities‑like midstream to 4.52%, they are deemphasizing the hydrocarbon trade just as AI, health care, and industrials gain share.

They also took chips off in quality cyclicals and financial proxies: Berkshire Hathaway (-10.9%), JPMorgan (-4.0%), Amphenol (-11.8%), Mastercard (-6.2%), and T‑Mobile (-11.7%) all rank among the largest dollar trims. None of these look like thesis reversals; they look like liquidity taps after strong multi‑year runs.

Even stable consumer winners such as Walmart (-11.3%) and TJX (-0.3%) saw reductions, while MCD and Costco were increased. Within staples‑adjacent retail and restaurants, they’re tilting toward concepts with more pricing power and global unit growth.

On a sector basis, this was an evolution, not a revolution. Technology eased only marginally from 49.49% to 49.05%, but inside that bucket the center of gravity is shifting from broadly diversified mega‑caps to semis (NVIDIA, AMD, Analog Devices, Broadcom) and industrial‑tech hybrids (GE, Eaton, ASML).

Consumer Discretionary crept up to 14.53% as they leaned into Amazon, Netflix, Costco, Home Depot, and McDonald’s while trimming Walmart. The emphasis is on scaled, globally leveraged franchises rather than small‑cap cyclicals.

Health Care made the biggest step‑change, rising from 4.47% to 5.19% with the AstraZeneca add on top of Lilly and Johnson & Johnson. That shows a clear willingness to pay for innovation in biopharma, particularly where obesity, oncology, and chronic disease pipelines intersect long‑duration demand.

By contrast, Energy fell from 3.38% to 2.99%, and Telecom from 2.52% to 2.22%, as T‑Mobile and Cisco were cut. Finance slipped modestly, even as select names like Blackstone and Aon were topped up, indicating a narrower, quality‑over‑quantity approach.

The “Unclassified” bucket, effectively core equity wrappers (IVV, VOO, BRK.B, NBCR), rose from 5.36% to 5.89%. Combined with a slight uptick in Industrials to 2.83%, that points to a desire to keep aggregate factor risk anchored in broad beta and high‑quality cyclicals while expressing active views at the margin.

Pulling it together, Neuberger Berman is not de‑risking after a tough quarter; they are concentrating risk in the places they think still compound. Bigger positions in NVIDIA, AMD, Amazon, Netflix, and AstraZeneca make it clear they see multi‑year earnings power in AI, digital platforms, and health‑span therapeutics.

At the same time, they are incrementally de‑emphasizing old‑economy energy, telecom, and a handful of mature tech and financial winners. That capital is being recycled into what they view as the next leg of secular growth – and into core equity ETFs that keep tracking error in check if single‑name volatility rises.

For observers, the signal is that Neuberger expects the market’s leadership to stay narrow but to broaden within growth: from just a few mega‑cap software names toward semis, industrial tech, and innovative health care. Their modest moves in rail (CSX), industrials (Caterpillar, Eaton), and communications infrastructure (Motorola Solutions) echo a belief that AI and reshoring will demand more physical and network “plumbing.”

If that thesis is right, this quarter’s trades position the book to capture both the high‑multiple AI narrative and the more prosaic cash‑flow upgrades in logistics, manufacturing, and medical innovation. If it’s wrong, their increased use of S&P 500 exposure and their own core ETF suggests they intend to be wrong alongside the market, not in isolation.