Ohio Senator J.D. Vance, the GOP vice-presidential nominee, made headlines with his singular public stock trade over the past year.
Known to many Americans for his best-selling book "Hillbilly Elegy" and its Netflix adaptation, Vance also boasts a background as a venture capitalist in California.
Since shifting to a political career, Vance has significantly curtailed his investing activities, with just one notable public stock trade in the last year. Here’s the breakdown of that trade and its outcome.
Although Vance executed three trades since his tenure as Ohio's junior U.S. senator, only one involved a publicly traded company. On August 30, 2023, he sold his stake in Narya Capital Management LLC and invested $3.18 million in Narya Capital Fund II LP the following day.
Founded by Vance in 2020, Narya Capital is a venture capital firm focusing on early-stage tech businesses outside Silicon Valley.
The spotlight trade, however, took place on October 3, 2023, when Vance sold $75,000 worth of shares in the discount retail giant Walmart (NYSE: WMT). His financial disclosures also indicate holdings in Kentucky-based food producer AppHarvest and various index exchange-traded funds (ETFs).
At the close of 2022, Vance held shares in Walmart, a stock that only declined by 2% during the year—a notable performance given the S&P 500's 19% drop. By October 2023, when Vance sold his Walmart shares, the stock had appreciated by 12% to 13% year-to-date.
Initially, this trade seemed astute. On November 17, 2023, Walmart’s third-quarter results, while meeting Wall Street's revenue and earnings estimates, came with a cautious consumer spending outlook, causing the stock to plummet by over 8%.
However, Walmart shares rebounded later in 2023. The company’s better-than-expected Q4 2023 and Q1 2024 results, coupled with a 3-for-1 stock split announced on January 30, 2024, which took effect on February 22, 2024, propelled the stock upwards. Currently, Walmart stock is up over 32% since Vance’s sale, making his decision appear less favorable in hindsight.
The exact use of proceeds from Vance’s Walmart stock sale remains unknown; he might have reallocated the funds more profitably.
Nevertheless, his sole public stock trade in the past year underscores a critical lesson for investors: past performance does not guarantee future results. Many investors, not just political figures, often err by selling stocks prematurely.
