Baron Funds, an investment management company, released its “Baron Asset Fund” fourth quarter 2024 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. US equities ended the quarter higher primarily due to the market’s strength following Donald Trump’s election as president and the Republican majority in both houses of Congress. While Baron Asset Fund had a difficult fourth quarter, returning -(0.04)% (Institutional Shares) compared to the Russell Midcap Growth Index’s 8.14% return. The firm believes that the relative shortfall was caused by a number of circumstances that would only last temporarily. In addition, please check the fund’s top five holdings to know its best picks in 2024.
In its fourth quarter 2024 investor letter, Baron Asset Fund emphasized stocks such as IDEXX Laboratories, Inc. (NASDAQ:IDXX). IDEXX Laboratories, Inc. (NASDAQ:IDXX) develops, manufactures, and distributes products primarily for the companion animal veterinary, livestock and poultry, dairy, and water testing markets. The one-month return of IDEXX Laboratories, Inc. (NASDAQ:IDXX) was 7.27%, and its shares lost 19.17% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On February 13, 2025, IDEXX Laboratories, Inc. (NASDAQ:IDXX) stock closed at $459.76 per share with a market capitalization of $37.647 billion.
Baron Asset Fund stated the following regarding IDEXX Laboratories, Inc. (NASDAQ:IDXX) in its Q4 2024 investor letter:
“Shares of veterinary diagnostics leader IDEXX Laboratories, Inc. (NASDAQ:IDXX) detracted as patient visits to veterinary clinics remained weak, after surging during the pandemic. Nevertheless, IDEXX’s excellent execution enabled the company to deliver robust financial results during the most recent quarter. We believe the company’s competitive position has never been stronger, and we expect its new proprietary in-clinic instruments and ongoing favorable price realization to meaningfully drive growth in 2025. Furthermore, we believe that veterinary visits will inevitably increase, as secular trends around pet ownership and pet care spending have been structurally accelerated. Many of the puppies and kittens acquired during the pandemic will soon be reaching ages when veterinary visits become more frequent. In addition, we expect constraints that have hampered the supply of new veterinarians and veterinary technicians to abate. We expect these improving trends in both demand and supply to allow IDEXX’s revenue and earnings growth to return to historic levels.”
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, 42 hedge fund portfolios held IDEXX Laboratories, Inc. (NASDAQ:IDXX) at the end of the third quarter which was 41 in the previous quarter. While we acknowledge the potential of IDEXX Laboratories, Inc. (NASDAQ:IDXX) 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 IDEXX Laboratories, Inc. (NASDAQ:IDXX) and shared Conestoga Capital Advisors’ views on the company. 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.