Baron Funds, an investment management company, released its “Baron Small Cap Fund” second-quarter 2024 investor letter. A copy can be downloaded here. The fund returned -6.43% (Institutional Shares) in the quarter trailing the Russell 2000 Growth Index’s -2.92% return and the broader Russell 3000 Index’s 3.22% return. The technology-heavy NASDAQ Composite Index and the broader indices hit record highs in the second quarter. Still, the rally was extremely focused and narrow, with the mega-cap Magnificent Seven’s consistently excellent performance accounting for all of the larger-cap index gains while small-cap stocks declined. In addition, please check the fund’s top five holdings to know its best picks in 2024.
Baron Small Cap Fund highlighted stocks like Kinsale Capital Group, Inc. (NYSE:KNSL) in the second quarter 2024 investor letter. Founded in 2009, Kinsale Capital Group, Inc. (NYSE:KNSL) is a specialty insurance company. On August 5, 2024, Kinsale Capital Group, Inc. (NYSE:KNSL) stock closed at $446.85 per share. One-month return of Kinsale Capital Group, Inc. (NYSE:KNSL) was 17.71%, and its shares gained 18.47% of their value over the last 52 weeks. Kinsale Capital Group, Inc. (NYSE:KNSL) has a market capitalization of $10.406 billion.
Baron Small Cap Fund stated the following regarding Kinsale Capital Group, Inc. (NYSE:KNSL) in its Q2 2024 investor letter:
“Shares of specialty insurer Kinsale Capital Group, Inc. (NYSE:KNSL) gave back some gains from earlier this year after the company reported slower premium growth in the first quarter. Earnings beat Street expectations with 44% EPS growth and 43% growth in book value per share. However, investors focused on the slowdown in gross written premiums to 25% growth from 34% last quarter, reflecting tough comparisons and moderating growth in property insurance. We continue to own the stock because we believe Kinsale is well managed and has a long runway for growth in an attractive segment of the insurance market. Recall that Kinsale was one of our best performers last quarter, and we believe we can endure some volatility to achieve strong long-term returns.”
A Professional insurance broker discussing coverage plans with a small business owner.
Kinsale Capital Group, Inc. (NYSE:KNSL) is not on our list of 31 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 30 hedge fund portfolios held Kinsale Capital Group, Inc. (NYSE:KNSL) at the end of the first quarter which was 28 in the previous quarter. Kinsale Capital Group, Inc.’s (NYSE:KNSL) operating earnings per share climbed by 30.2% in the second quarter of 2024 compared to Q2 2023, while the gross written premium grew by 20.9%. While we acknowledge the potential of Kinsale Capital Group, Inc. (NYSE:KNSL) as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns, and doing so within a shorter timeframe. If you are looking for an AI stock that is as promising as NVIDIA but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.
In another article, we discussed Kinsale Capital Group, Inc. (NYSE:KNSL) and shared Polen U.S. SMID Company Growth Strategy’s views on the company. In Q1 2024, Kinsale Capital Group, Inc. (NYSE:KNSL) was on the top contributors list of the Baron Discovery Fund. In addition, please check out our hedge fund investor letters Q2 2024 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.
