Stanford announces 40.1% return for fiscal year

Stanford Management Co. returned a net 40.1% for the fiscal year ended June 30, said a news release Tuesday from Stanford University, Palo Alto, Calif.

The management company, which manages $41.9 billion in merged investment pools that include the university's endowment, Stanford Health Care and Lucile Packard Children's Hospital, said there was $12.1 billion in investment net gains during the period.

"Over the last year and a half, the pandemic resulted in substantial turbulence in financial markets. The university's disciplined investment approach during this time produced strong gains that will enable Stanford to continue delivering on its mission of teaching, research and patient care," said Robert Wallace, Stanford Management's CEO, in the news release.

"Although we are very pleased with last year's results, we are mindful that periods of exceptional gains are often followed by intervals of more muted investment performance," Mr. Wallace said.

The university did not provide benchmark information, but it said the fiscal-year return exceeded the median 33.4% fiscal-year return for U.S. colleges and universities, according to Cambridge Associates data.

For the five and 10 years ended June 30, the merged investment pools returned an annualized net 14.7% and 10.8%, respectively.

The endowment returned a net 5.6% for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2020.

The news release did not report the endowment's asset allocation, performance of individual asset classes or benchmark returns. The management company's annual report has yet to be released.

University spokesman E.J. Miranda could not be immediately reached to provide further information.