Baron Funds, an asset management firm, published its “Baron Durable Advantage Fund” second quarter 2022 investor letter – a copy of which can be downloaded here. Baron Durable Advantage Fund (the “Fund”) declined 15.7% (Institutional Shares) during the second quarter, roughly in line with the 16.1% decline for the S&P 500 Index (the “Index”), the Fund’s benchmark. Year-to-date, the Fund has declined by 24.4% compared to the 20.0% decline for the Index. Go over the fund’s top 5 positions to have a glimpse of its finest picks for 2022.
In its Q2 2022 investor letter, Baron Durable Advantage Fund mentioned Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) and explained its insights for the company. Founded in 1975, Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) is a Redmond, Washington-based multinational technology corporation with a $1.9 trillion market capitalization. Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) delivered a -23.13% return since the beginning of the year, while its 12-month returns are down by -13.03%. The stock closed at $258.52 per share on September 08, 2022.
Here is what Baron Durable Advantage Fund has to say about Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) in its Q2 2022 investor letter:
“Shares of Microsoft Corporation, a leading global provider of software solutions, declined 16.6% in the quarter along with the broader software group as well as due to growing concerns of a potential macro-driven slowdown. This is despite the company posting strong quarterly financial results and successfully absorbing headwinds from the war in Ukraine. The company had 21% revenue growth, 23% operating income growth, and 35% growth in Microsoft Cloud (all year-over-year in constant currency), which now represents 47% of total revenues.
As discussed above, we continue to believe Microsoft remains a durable and growing business as companies across all industries look to digitally transform, taking advantage of the continuously expanding solution set Microsoft has to offer.”
![](https://imonkey-blog.imgix.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/24233139/microsoft-4608125_1280-750x500.jpg?auto=fortmat&fit=clip&expires=1753142400&width=480&height=319)
Image by Tawanda Razika from Pixabay
Our calculations show that Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) ranks 1st on our list of the 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) was in 258 hedge fund portfolios at the end of the second quarter of 2022, compared to 259 funds in the previous quarter. Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) delivered a -2.37 return in the past 3 months.
In September 2022, we also shared another hedge fund’s views on Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) in another article. You can find other investor letters from hedge funds and prominent investors on our hedge fund investor letters 2022 Q2 page.
Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.