AZEK Company Landed in Baron Funds’ Detractor List

Baron Funds, an asset management firm, published its “Baron Real Estate Fund” first quarter 2022 investor letter – a copy of which can be downloaded here. The Baron Real Estate Fund (the “Fund”) declined 10.76% (Institutional Shares) in the first quarter of 2022, modestly outperforming its primary benchmark, the MSCI USA IMI Extended Real Estate Index (the “MSCI Real Estate Index”), which declined 11.03%. The Fund underperformed the MSCI US REIT Index (the “REIT Index”), which declined 4.28%. Try to spend some time looking at the fund’s top 5 holdings to be informed about their best picks for 2022.

In its Q1 2022 investor letter, Baron Real Estate Fund mentioned The AZEK Company Inc. (NYSE:AZEK) and explained its insights for the company. Founded in 2013, The AZEK Company Inc. (NYSE:AZEK) is a Chicago, Illinois-based outdoor living products manufacturer with a $2.9 billion market capitalization. The AZEK Company Inc. (NYSE:AZEK) delivered a -58.39% return since the beginning of the year, while its 12-month returns are down by -55.00%. The stock closed at $19.24 per share on May 24, 2022.

Here is what Baron Real Estate Fund has to say about The AZEK Company Inc. (NYSE:AZEK) in its Q1 2022 investor letter:

“As noted earlier in this letter, several residential-related real estate companies corrected sharply in the first quarter of 2022, in part due to concerns about the possibility of a slowdown in the for-sale portion of the U.S. housing market due to consumer affordability concerns and material and labor bottlenecks. Examples of residential-related companies that declined in the first quarter includes: The AZEK Company Inc.: A leading manufacturer of outdoor, non-wood building products including decking, railing, trim, and other leading outdoor products. We believe current valuations for the company now reflect a good portion of a possible temporary slowdown in the U.S. housing market and have begun to offer compelling multi-year return prospects.”

Our calculations show that The AZEK Company Inc. (NYSE:AZEK) fell short and didn’t make it on our list of the 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. The AZEK Company Inc. (NYSE:AZEK) was in 33 hedge fund portfolios at the end of the first quarter of 2022, compared to 31 funds in the previous quarter. The AZEK Company Inc. (NYSE:AZEK) delivered a -30.39% return in the past 3 months.

In August 2021, we also shared another hedge fund’s views on The AZEK Company Inc. (NYSE:AZEK) in another article. You can find other investor letters from hedge funds and prominent investors on our hedge fund investor letters 2022 Q1 page.

Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.