Baron Funds, an investment management company, released its “Baron Opportunity Fund” second quarter 2024 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. In the second quarter, the fund rose 4.35% (Institutional Shares), lagged the Russell 3000 Growth Index, which gained 7.80%, and essentially matched the S&P 500 Index, which advanced 4.28%. In the first half of 2024, the fund posted solid gains, rising 20.44% compared to a 19.90% return for the Russell 3000 Growth Index and beating the S&P 500 Index’s 15.29% gain. After a slow start to the quarter, U.S. stocks increased steadily in May and June. Increased worries about inflation, the pace of expected rate cuts by the Federal Reserve, and growing geopolitical tensions in the Middle East were blamed for the early market weakness. In addition, you can check the fund’s top 5 holdings to determine its best picks for 2024.
Baron Opportunity Fund highlighted stocks like Exact Sciences Corporation (NASDAQ:EXAS) in the second quarter 2024 investor letter. Exact Sciences Corporation (NASDAQ:EXAS) provides cancer screening and diagnostic test products. The one-month return of Exact Sciences Corporation (NASDAQ:EXAS) was 19.07%, and its shares lost 28.15% of their value over the last three months. On August 20, 2024, Exact Sciences Corporation (NASDAQ:EXAS) stock closed at $58.82 per share with a market capitalization of $10.868 billion.
Baron Opportunity Fund stated the following regarding Exact Sciences Corporation (NASDAQ:EXAS) in its Q2 2024 investor letter:
“We sold our position in Exact Sciences Corporation (NASDAQ:EXAS) and booked a short- term tax loss after shares dropped precipitously during the second quarter. Exact Sciences is a cancer diagnostics company whose flagship product is Cologuard, a stool-based screening test for colon cancer. The company issued a disappointing first quarter report. On the earnings call, management signaled they would ramp up sales and marketing, raising concerns that they needed to accelerate spending to maintain brand awareness and drive incremental growth. There is also continued concern around emerging competition from liquid biopsies, which are blood-based tests that are more convenient. While we believe there is still a greenfield opportunity among patients not getting any screening done today, the stock is now in the penalty box.”
A research team in a laboratory discussing the results of a lab screening test for biomarkers.
Exact Sciences Corporation (NASDAQ:EXAS) is not on our list of 31 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 37 hedge fund portfolios held Exact Sciences Corporation (NASDAQ:EXAS) at the end of the second quarter which was 48 in the previous quarter. In the second quarter, Exact Sciences Corporation (NASDAQ:EXAS) delivered $699 million in revenue, up 12% year-over-year. While we acknowledge the potential of Exact Sciences Corporation (NASDAQ:EXAS) 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 Exact Sciences Corporation (NASDAQ:EXAS) and shared Artisan Mid Cap Fund’s views on the company. 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.
