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 First Republic Bank (NYSE:FRC) in the first quarter 2023 investor letter. Headquartered in San Francisco, California, First Republic Bank (NYSE:FRC) is a financial company that operates through Commercial Banking and Wealth Management segments. On May 1, 2023, First Republic Bank (NYSE:FRC) stock closed at $3.5100 per share. One-month return of First Republic Bank (NYSE:FRC) was -74.55%, and its shares lost 97.71% of their value over the last 52 weeks. First Republic Bank (NYSE:FRC) has a market capitalization of $653.629 million.
Baron Asset Fund made the following comment about First Republic Bank (NYSE:FRC) in its Q1 2023 investor letter:
“First Republic Bank (NYSE:FRC) provides banking and wealth management services primarily to affluent customers in select markets. The company’s share price collapsed in the aftermath of the failures of SVB and Signature Bank. Investors feared that First Republic could face a similar fate because a majority of its funding base is in the form of large, uninsured deposits, primarily from wealthy clients and small- and mid-size businesses. Despite a historically loyal customer base that valued the bank’s industry-leading customer service culture, we believe many of these deposits were likely withdrawn from the bank following the high-profile turmoil at SVB. These deposits would likely have been replaced with higher-cost funding, leading to significant earnings pressure. We concluded that the bank’s competitive position and earnings potential had likely been permanently impaired, so we exited the position.”
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First Republic Bank (NYSE:FRC) is not on our list of 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 40 hedge fund portfolios held First Republic Bank (NYSE:FRC) at the end of the fourth quarter which was 39 in the previous quarter.
We discussed First Republic Bank (NYSE:FRC) in another article and shared Giverny 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.
