Baron Funds, an asset management firm, published its “Baron Small Cap Fund” second quarter 2022 investor letter – a copy of which can be downloaded here. Baron Small Cap Fund (the “Fund”) was down 18.60% (Institutional Shares) in the second quarter. The Fund modestly outperformed the Russell 2000 Growth Index, which was down 19.25% for the period, but lagged the S&P 500 Index, which was down 16.10%. Year-to-date, the Fund is down 31.36%, which trailed the Russell 2000 Growth Index and the S&P 500 Index, which were down 29.45% and 19.96%, respectively. Go over the fund’s top 5 positions to have a glimpse of its finest picks for 2022.
In its Q2 2022 investor letter, Baron Small Cap Fund mentioned ASGN Incorporated (NYSE:ASGN) and explained its insights for the company. Founded in 1985, ASGN Incorporated (NYSE:ASGN) is a Glen Allen, Virginia-based IT services and solutions provider with a $4.8 billion market capitalization. ASGN Incorporated (NYSE:ASGN) delivered a -20.93% return since the beginning of the year, while its 12-month returns are up by -12.92%. The stock closed at $97.57 per share on September 09, 2022.
Here is what Baron Small Cap Fund has to say about ASGN Incorporated (NYSE:ASGN) in its Q2 2022 investor letter:
“Our largest detractor was ASGN Incorporated, a leading provider of IT staffing and consulting services. ASGN actually reported a very strong quarter. Revenues were up 20% and EBITDA was up 39%. The burgeoning consulting segment, an offshoot of the company’s tech staffing offering, grew 70% in the quarter, continuing its torrid pace. Management explained that demand for its core IT staffing services was strong, and expected it to be resilient, as the projects the company works on are mission critical to its clients. They also pointed out that the company’s business mix has significant exposure to more stable, counter-cyclical government work. However, the stock traded off pretty hard because of fear of a potential recession and a downturn in hiring, and now trades cheaply on both an earnings and cash flow basis. The company bought back a big slug of stock so far this year at prices above its quarter end closing price. Management has been prescient in the past when making opportunistic share repurchases. Near the end of the quarter, the company announced an acquisition of a fast-growing consulting business, which fits well with other services and clients the company serves, and it has great growth prospects.”
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Our calculations show that ASGN Incorporated (NYSE:ASGN) fell short and didn’t make it on our list of the 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. ASGN Incorporated (NYSE:ASGN) was in 19 hedge fund portfolios at the end of the second quarter of 2022, compared to 12 funds in the previous quarter. ASGN Incorporated (NYSE:ASGN) delivered a 9.24% return in the past 3 months.
In December 2021, we also shared another hedge fund’s views on ASGN Incorporated (NYSE:ASGN) in another article. You can find other investor letters from hedge funds and prominent investors on our hedge fund investor letters 2022 Q2 page.
Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.
