Baron Funds, an investment management company, released its “Baron Health Care Fund” fourth quarter 2023 investor letter. A copy of the same can be downloaded here. The fund advanced 7.69% (Institutional Shares) in the quarter compared to a 6.96% gain for the Russell 3000 Health Care Index and an 11.69% increase for the S&P 500 Index. For the full year, the fund increased 6.42%, compared to 2.87% and 26.29% returns for the indexes, respectively. In addition, please check the fund’s top five holdings to know its best picks in 2023.
Baron Health Care Fund featured stocks such as Stryker Corporation (NYSE:SYK) in the Q4 2023 investor letter. Headquartered in Kalamazoo, Michigan, Stryker Corporation (NYSE:SYK) is a medical technology company. On January 19, 2024, Stryker Corporation (NYSE:SYK) stock closed at $315.05 per share. One-month return of Stryker Corporation (NYSE:SYK) was 5.90%, and its shares gained 22.35% of their value over the last 52 weeks. Stryker Corporation (NYSE:SYK) has a market capitalization of $119.699 billion.
Baron Health Care Fund stated the following regarding Stryker Corporation (NYSE:SYK) in its fourth quarter 2023 investor letter:
“We initiated a position in Stryker Corporation (NYSE:SYK) during the quarter. Stryker is a large diversified medical device company with two business segments: (1) MedSurg and Neurotechnology, and (2) Orthopedics and Spine. The stock sold off during the quarter along with many other medical device stocks because of concerns about the impact of GLP-1 weight loss medicines on their business. Specific to Stryker, the concern was that weight loss would reduce demand for hip and knee implant procedures because obesity is one factor that drives osteoarthritis. We think this concern was overstated and saw the sell-off as an opportunity to buy a high-quality growth company at a reasonable valuation. We think Stryker is well positioned with its broad product portfolio to benefit from the trend of more orthopedic and other medical procedures moving from the hospital to ambulatory surgery centers. The company also has several new product launches coming up that should drive growth. At its recent Investor Day, management provided long-term financial goals including organic sales growth at the high end of the medical technology industry and double-digit EPS growth.”
A doctor in an operating room holding a spinal allograft, focused on the procedure.
Stryker Corporation (NYSE:SYK) is not on our list of 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 47 hedge fund portfolios held Stryker Corporation (NYSE:SYK) at the end of third quarter which was 46 in the previous quarter.
We discussed Stryker Corporation (NYSE:SYK) in another article and shared the list of the best medical device stocks to buy. In addition, please check out our hedge fund investor letters Q4 2023 page for more investor letters from hedge funds and other leading investors.
Suggested Articles:
- 10 States with the Highest Muslim Population in the US
- 25 Worst Countries to Retire in for Americans
- 15 Countries with the Most Battle Tanks in the World
Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.
