Baron Funds, an asset management firm, published its “Baron Discovery Fund” fourth quarter 2021 investor letter – a copy of which can be downloaded here. A quarterly return of 3.13% was delivered by the fund’s institutional shares for the fourth quarter of 2021, which was better than the Russell 2000 Growth Index’s 0.01% return, but below the S&P 500 Index’s gain of 11.03% for the same period. Spare some time to check the fund’s top 5 holdings to have a clue about their top bets for 2022.
Baron Discovery Fund, in its Q4 2021 investor letter, mentioned Accolade, Inc. (NASDAQ: ACCD) and discussed its stance on the firm. Accolade, Inc. is a Pennsylvania-based health, wellness, and fitness company with a $1.2 billion market capitalization. ACCD delivered a -28.91% return since the beginning of the year, while its 12-month returns are down by -68.14%. The stock closed at $18.74 per share on January 20, 2022.
Here is what Baron Discovery Fund has to say about Accolade, Inc. in its Q4 2021 investor letter:
“Accolade, Inc. is a leader in providing purpose-built, technology-enabled virtual health care and personalized engagement services. Its products are designed to help employees access care and navigate/maximize their benefits with the goals of reduced health care costs and better outcomes. Shares dropped in the fourth quarter, alongside those of other high-multiple, tech-enabled, not yet profitable health care companies as investors became more focused on the path to profitability versus pure revenue growth and revisited valuations given the outlook for higher interest rates. Investors also grew more sensitive to perceived competition, as the health care IT space continues to attract significant venture capital. We continue to have a positive long-term view on this high-quality, well-managed company. We believe that Accolade has a truly differentiated offering, which is well aligned with the industry’s movement towards value-based care, and which delivers a measurable return on investment to clients. The 2021 acquisitions of 2ndMD and Plushcare, second opinion and virtual primary care providers, respectively, significantly broadened Accolades’ value proposition and should allow for meaningful cross-selling and higher-margin opportunities in 2022 and beyond. We added to our position in Accolade as we believe that shares have been oversold due to macroeconomic reasons rather than fundamental value reasons.”
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Our calculations show that Accolade, Inc. (NASDAQ: ACCD) failed to obtain a mark on our list of the 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. ACCD was in 28 hedge fund portfolios at the end of the third quarter of 2021, compared to 24 funds in the previous quarter. Accolade, Inc. (NASDAQ: ACCD) delivered a -53.42% return in the past 3 months.
You can find other letters from hedge funds and prominent investors on our hedge fund investor letters 2021 Q4 page.
Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.