Baron Funds, an investment management company, released its “Baron Asset Fund” third quarter 2023 investor letter. A copy of the same can be downloaded here. The market rally that was driven by technology this year came to a halt in the third quarter. Against this backdrop, the Baron Asset Fund declined 4.42% (Institutional Shares) in the third quarter outperforming the Russell Midcap Growth Index’s -5.22% return. Positive stock selection and tailwinds from its style biases drove the outperformance in the quarter. The Fund’s underexposure to higher beta stocks, which performed poorly during the market reversal was another notable factor. In addition, please check the fund’s top five holdings to know its best picks in 2023.
Baron Asset Fund highlighted stocks like Guidewire Software, Inc. (NYSE:GWRE) in the third quarter 2023 investor letter. Headquartered in San Mateo, California, Guidewire Software, Inc. (NYSE:GWRE) is a software product-providing company for P&C insurers. On November 10, 2023, Guidewire Software, Inc. (NYSE:GWRE) stock closed at $91.09 per share. One-month return of Guidewire Software, Inc. (NYSE:GWRE) was 2.03%, and its shares gained 49.50% of their value over the last 52 weeks. Guidewire Software, Inc. (NYSE:GWRE) has a market capitalization of $7.463 billion.
Baron Asset Fund made the following comment about Guidewire Software, Inc. (NYSE:GWRE) in its Q3 2023 investor letter:
“Shares of P&C insurance software vendor Guidewire Software, Inc. (NYSE:GWRE) rose after the company announced robust quarterly results. Sales results included 17 deals for cloud-based software implementations; 11 of these were with Tier 1 insurance carriers, including AllState Canada, Progressive, and Insurance Australia Group, the largest insurer in Australia. We expect to see the company’s consistent annual recurring revenue growth accelerate next year as sales momentum continues and existing deals ramp to higher levels. We are also encouraged by Guidewire’s gross margin expansion, which improved by almost 10% during the past quarter. We believe Guidewire will be the critical software vendor for the global P&C insurance industry, capturing 30% to 50% of its $15 billion to $30 billion total addressable market and generating margins above 40%.”
An insurance adjuster reviewing images and paperwork to process a claim.
Guidewire Software, Inc. (NYSE:GWRE) is not on our list of 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 36 hedge fund portfolios held Guidewire Software, Inc. (NYSE:GWRE) at the end of second quarter which was 40 in the previous quarter.
We discussed Guidewire Software, Inc. (NYSE:GWRE) in another article and shared Conestoga Mid Cap Strategy’s views on the company. In addition, please check out our hedge fund investor letters Q3 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.
