Company: BSTZ
Filing Date: 2025-09-04
Form Type: N-CSRS
Source: 0001193125-25-196080
Chunk: 13

Company: BlackRock Science & Technology Term Trust
Filing Date: 2025-09-04
Form: N-CSRS
Chunk 13
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 Eurofighter jet program. In addition, the company’s accretive acquisitions and ongoing share buybacks have further supported investor confidence. On the downside, shares of UnitedHealth Group Inc. declined sharply in April 2025 as the managed care provider reported an earnings miss while lowering full-year guidance, citing rising costs driven by elevated patient care utilization in its Medicare Advantage offering. The stock took another downward turn in May as UnitedHealth’s CEO unexpectedly resigned and the company suspended its fiscal year guidance. Despite a movement towards reducing government spending, Medicare Advantage is a structurally important industry and UnitedHealth has several potential levers to improve profitability, including adjustments to patient coverage and benefit structures. With a path to stabilizing near-term earnings and a return to structural growth drivers in the medium term, we believe the stock is attractively valued at current levels. Sentiment with respect to Accenture, the U.S. information technology services and consulting company, suffered from concerns around the outlook for spending by its clients given elevated macroeconomic and geopolitical uncertainty, overshadowing a relatively strong period for the company. Digitalization remains a critical priority for Accenture’s customers, and this should increasingly support the company’s ability to grow earnings throughout the business investment cycle. Finally, a lack of exposure to Nvidia Corp. detracted as the chipmaker benefited from strong artificial intelligence (“AI”) demand, a positive first quarter earnings report, and a move by investors back into riskier growth narratives. While we recognize the structural growth opportunity in AI and maintain exposure to several AI-focused names within the portfolio, we retain our decision to not hold Nvidia driven by valuation concerns and our conviction that Broadcom is better placed for the next phase of AI evolution. To that point, we believe that as the industry shifts from general processing units toward more application-specific chips, Broadcom’s capabilities in custom silicon and infrastructure solutions offer a compelling alternative. We see this as a more efficient use of capital, aligned with our conviction in the long-term trajectory of AI adoption. The Trust utilized an options overlay strategy in which calls are written on a portion of the portfolio ’ s holdings. The Trust ’ s options overlay strategy contributed positively to relative performance. The Trust’s practice of maintaining a speciﬁed level of monthly distributions to shareholders did not have a material impact on the Trust’s investment strategy. Describe recent portfolio activity. During the period, the Trust added exposure to the industrials, communication services and utilities sectors. The Trust reduced exposure to the healthcare, energy and consumer discretionary sectors. Describe portfolio positioning at period end. At the