Baron Funds, an investment management company, released its “Baron Asset Fund” fourth quarter 2023 investor letter. A copy of the same can be downloaded here. Declining interest rates and investors’ increasing confidence that there won’t be a hard-landing economic recession were both influenced by moderating inflation and improving labor market conditions. This bullish outlook fueled investor risk-taking and a robust equities market surge throughout the quarter. Against this backdrop, the fund gained 12.45% (Institutional Shares) in the fourth quarter underperforming the Russell Midcap Growth Index’s 14.55% return. Headwinds from the Fund’s style biases, particularly its underexposure to equities with elevated beta and residual volatility, as well as the impact of stock selection, contributed to its relative underperformance. In addition, please check the fund’s top five holdings to know its best picks in 2023.
Baron Asset Fund featured stocks such as IDEXX Laboratories, Inc. (NASDAQ:IDXX) in the fourth quarter 2023 investor letter. Headquartered in Westbrook, Maine, IDEXX Laboratories, Inc. (NASDAQ:IDXX) engages in the development and manufacturing of products and services for animal veterinary, livestock and poultry, dairy, and water testing. On January 24, 2024, IDEXX Laboratories, Inc. (NASDAQ:IDXX) stock closed at $520.21 per share. One-month return of IDEXX Laboratories, Inc. (NASDAQ:IDXX) was -6.61%, and its shares gained 6.82% of their value over the last 52 weeks. IDEXX Laboratories, Inc. (NASDAQ:IDXX) has a market capitalization of $43.204 billion.
Baron Asset Fund stated the following regarding IDEXX Laboratories, Inc. (NASDAQ:IDXX) in its fourth quarter 2023 investor letter:
“Shares of veterinary diagnostics leader IDEXX Laboratories, Inc. (NASDAQ:IDXX) contributed to the quarter’s performance. While foot traffic to veterinary clinics in the U.S. has been subdued for the past year, IDEXX’s excellent execution has enabled the company to continue delivering robust financial results. Traffic to clinics now appears to be rebounding, and we expect this to lead to accelerated revenue growth. We believe IDEXX’s competitive trends are outstanding, and we expect new proprietary innovations to contribute to growth in 2024 and beyond. We see increasing evidence that long-term secular trends around pet ownership and pet care spending have been structurally accelerated, which should help support IDEXX’s long-term growth rate.”
A veterinarian in a veterinary clinic examining a companion animal.
IDEXX Laboratories, Inc. (NASDAQ:IDXX) is not on our list of 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 48 hedge fund portfolios held IDEXX Laboratories, Inc. (NASDAQ:IDXX) at the end of third quarter which was 43 in the previous quarter.
We discussed IDEXX Laboratories, Inc. (NASDAQ:IDXX) in another article and shared Fundsmith Equity Fund’s views on the company. In addition, please check out our hedge fund investor letters Q4 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.
