Baron Funds, an investment management company, released its “Baron Health Care Fund” third quarter 2024 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. The fund appreciated 5.81%% (Institutional Shares) in the quarter compared to a 6.74% gain for the Russell 3000 Health Care Index (benchmark) and a 6.23% gain for the Russell 3000 Index (the Index). Since inception, the fund appreciated 13.02% on an annualized basis compared to an 11.47% gain for the benchmark and a 14.03% gain for the index. In addition, please check the fund’s top five holdings to know its best picks in 2024.
Baron Health Care Fund highlighted stocks like Danaher Corporation (NYSE:DHR) in the Q3 2024 investor letter. Danaher Corporation (NYSE:DHR) manufactures, and markets professional, medical, industrial, and commercial products and services. The one-month return of Danaher Corporation (NYSE:DHR) was -9.19%, and its shares gained 27.30% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On October 31, 2024, Danaher Corporation (NYSE:DHR) stock closed at $245.66 per share with a market capitalization of $177.434 billion.
Baron Health Care Fund stated the following regarding Danaher Corporation (NYSE:DHR) in its Q3 2024 investor letter:
“We added to the position in Danaher Corporation (NYSE:DHR), a life sciences tools company with a market-leading position in the bioprocessing market. We continue to think the bioprocessing market is an attractive market over the long term driven by the growing demand for biologic drugs such as vaccines, recombinant proteins, and monoclonal antibodies. While the industry has faced post-COVID inventory destocking headwinds over the past two-plus years, we think Danaher is well positioned to benefit when market demand recovers. The company has been an active purchaser of its stock, signaling management’s confidence in the future.”
A healthcare professional in a lab coat holding a microscope and looking at a slide under the lens.
Danaher Corporation (NYSE:DHR) is in 24th position on our list of 31 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 83 hedge fund portfolios held Danaher Corporation (NYSE:DHR) at the end of the second quarter which was 98 in the previous quarter. The third quarter sales of Danaher Corporation (NYSE:DHR) were $5.8 billion, representing 0.5% core revenue growth. While we acknowledge the potential of Danaher Corporation (NYSE:DHR) 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 Danaher Corporation (NYSE:DHR) and shared Goldman Sachs top mutual fund manager stock picks. In addition, please check out our hedge fund investor letters Q3 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.