Baron Funds, an investment management company, released its “Baron Asset Fund” third quarter 2024 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. US equities ended the quarter higher for the fourth quarter in a row. The Fed’s long-awaited interest rate cuts and generally positive economic data caused a significant shift from large-cap, Magnificent Seven, growth, and momentum stocks toward value, cyclical, and small-cap stocks. Against this backdrop, Baron Asset Fund returned 8.34% (Institutional Shares) in the quarter, outperforming the Russell Midcap Growth Index’s 6.54% return. The stock returns in the quarter were driven by Earnings Quality and the favorable environment for the firm’s investment strategy. In addition, please check the fund’s top five holdings to know its best picks in 2024.
Baron Asset Fund highlighted stocks like Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) in the Q3 2024 investor letter. Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) offers data analytics solutions to the insurance markets. The one-month return of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) was -1.61%, and its shares gained 18.63% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On October 29, 2024, Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) stock closed at $263.65 per share with a market capitalization of $37.55 billion.
Baron Asset Fund stated the following regarding Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) in its Q3 2024 investor letter:
“Weakness in Industrials was driven by the Fund’s sizeable positions in data and analytics vendor and Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) and private rocket and spacecraft manufacturer Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX). Despite reporting generally solid second quarter earnings, Verisk was a modest detractor, as its stock pulled back after its transactional revenue was modestly softer than expectations.”
An engineer using the latest predictive analytics software to formulate solutions.
Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) is not on our list of 31 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 46 hedge fund portfolios held Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) at the end of the second quarter which was 47 in the previous quarter. The second quarter revenue of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) was $717 million, up 6.2% from Q2 2023. While we acknowledge the potential of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) 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 Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) and shared Parnassus Core Equity Fund’s views on the company. In its Q2 2024 investor letter, Baron Funds shared its confidence in Verisk Analytics, Inc.’s (NASDAQ:VRSK) strong competitive position, future growth, profit margins, and capital allocation strategy. 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.