Baron Funds, an asset management firm, published its “Baron Small Cap Fund” second quarter 2022 investor letter – a copy of which can be downloaded here. Baron Small Cap Fund (the “Fund”) was down 18.60% (Institutional Shares) in the second quarter. The Fund modestly outperformed the Russell 2000 Growth Index, which was down 19.25% for the period, but lagged the S&P 500 Index, which was down 16.10%. Year-to-date, the Fund is down 31.36%, which trailed the Russell 2000 Growth Index and the S&P 500 Index, which were down 29.45% and 19.96%, respectively. 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 Small Cap Fund mentioned Gartner, Inc. (NYSE:IT) and explained its insights for the company. Founded in 1979, Gartner, Inc. (NYSE:IT) is a Stamford, Connecticut-based management consulting company with a $24.6 billion market capitalization. Gartner, Inc. (NYSE:IT) delivered a -6.88% return since the beginning of the year, while its 12-month returns are down by 0.64%. The stock closed at $311.32 per share on September 12, 2022.
Here is what Baron Small Cap Fund has to say about Gartner, Inc. (NYSE:IT) in its Q2 2022 investor letter:
“Shares of Gartner, Inc., a provider of syndicated research sold on a subscription basis, detracted from performance as investors grew concerned about the impact of a potential recession on future growth trends. Presently, business is strong, and first quarter results were outstanding, led by the research business, which is growing at double-digit levels. The company increased guidance for revenues and free cash flow. Gartner’s conference offerings are returning to in-person events, which will also add to profitability.
Free-cash-flow generation was strong, and the company has a renewed focus on cost control to drive margin expansion, even as it ramps up hiring salespeople to keep up with demand. As with ASGN and Cognex, Gartner has a been an aggressive repurchaser of its shares…which we think is a good sign of management’s confidence in the value and future of the business. Though the business might slow and reported earnings will be negatively impacted by the rising dollar, we expect the business to remain solid and do not think the shares are expensive.”
Our calculations show that Gartner, Inc. (NYSE:IT) fell short and didn’t make it on our list of the 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. Gartner, Inc. (NYSE:IT) was in 38 hedge fund portfolios at the end of the second quarter of 2022, compared to 35 funds in the previous quarter. Gartner, Inc. (NYSE:IT) delivered a 33.76% return in the past 3 months.
In August 2022, we also shared another hedge fund’s views on Gartner, Inc. (NYSE:IT) 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.
