Baron Funds, an investment management company, released its “Baron Asset Fund” first quarter 2023 investor letter. A copy of the same can be downloaded here. The fund appreciated 5.34% in the first quarter, trailing the Russell Midcap Growth Index, which returned 9.14%. Stock selection drove the fund to underperform in the quarter. IT, Communication Services, and Consumer Discretionary were the strongest performing sectors, while Energy and Financials were the principal laggards. Furthermore, defensive-oriented sectors, Health Care, Utilities, and Consumer Staples also struggled in the quarter. In addition, please check the fund’s top five holdings to know its best picks in 2023.
Baron Asset Fund highlighted stocks like CoStar Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSGP) in the first quarter 2023 investor letter. Headquartered in Washington, the District of Columbia, CoStar Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSGP) provides information, analytics, and marketplace services to commercial real estate. On May 1, 2023, CoStar Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSGP) stock closed at $76.11 per share. One-month return of CoStar Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSGP) was 11.89%, and its shares gained 20.12% of their value over the last 52 weeks. CoStar Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSGP) has a market capitalization of $31.094 billion.
Baron Asset Fund made the following comment about CoStar Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSGP) in its Q1 2023 investor letter:
“CoStar Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSGP) is the leading provider of information and marketing services to the commercial real estate industry. After two consecutive quarters of robust performance, its shares fell, likely due to profit taking and concern about its level of internal investment. The company generated strong quarterly financial performance, with net new sales growing 15% and margins expanding by 200 basis points excluding growth investments. We expect the company’s core commercial and apartments businesses to continue to benefit from the migration of real estate market spending to online channels. CoStar has begun to invest aggressively to create a residential marketing platform, spending $230 million in 2022 and an estimated $500 million in 2023. We believe the company’s proprietary data, broker-oriented approach, and best-in-class management position it to generate an attractive return on this endeavor.”
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CoStar Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSGP) is not on our list of 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 46 hedge fund portfolios held CoStar Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSGP) at the end of the fourth quarter which was 40 in the previous quarter.
We discussed CoStar Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSGP) in another article and shared Lakehouse Capital’s views on the company. In addition, please check out our hedge fund investor letters Q1 2023 page for more investor letters from hedge funds and other leading investors.
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Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.
