Baron Funds, an investment management company, released its “Baron Real Estate Fund” first quarter 2023 investor letter. A copy of the same can be downloaded here. In the first quarter, the fund rose 7.07% (Institutional Shares) compared to a 2.39% return for the MSCI US REIT Index (the “REIT Index”) and a 4.73% return for the MSCI USA IMI Extended Real Estate Index (the “MSCI Real Estate Index”). The firm is optimistic about the prospects for the stock market, public real estate securities, and the fund. In addition, please check the fund’s top five holdings to know its best picks in 2023.
Baron Real Estate Fund highlighted stocks like Lennar Corporation (NYSE:LEN) in the first quarter 2023 investor letter. Based in Miami, Florida, Lennar Corporation (NYSE:LEN) is a home builder. On June 27, 2023, Lennar Corporation (NYSE:LEN) stock closed at $126.06 per share. One-month return of Lennar Corporation (NYSE:LEN) was 17.68%, and its shares gained 81.02% of their value over the last 52 weeks. Lennar Corporation (NYSE:LEN) has a market capitalization of $35.997 billion.
Baron Real Estate Fund made the following comment about Lennar Corporation (NYSE:LEN) in its first quarter 2023 investor letter:
“Lennar Corporation (NYSE:LEN) is the second-largest U.S. homebuilder with competitive scale advantages (including materials procurement and labor), an increasingly capital-light business model, a strong balance sheet, a strategic and forward-looking focus on technology investments, and an exceptional management team.
It is valued at only 1.3 times tangible book value versus its more typical historical valuation range of 1.5 to 2.5 times tangible book value.
The shares of homebuilding companies Toll Brothers, Inc. and Lennar Corporation performed well in the first quarter due to encouraging business activity early in 2023. As noted earlier in this letter, both companies have witnessed a meaningful uptick in demand to buy homes that started in January and appears to have continued for much of the first quarter. Homebuyers appear to be adjusting to higher mortgage rates and opting to purchase homes, in part, to fears that they could miss out on the opportunity to buy a home due to limited housing inventory and the possibility that mortgage rates could move higher. We continue to believe the shares of Toll Brothers and Lennar are attractively valued and offer strong long-term return potential.”
Piyapong Wongkam/Shutterstock.com
Lennar Corporation (NYSE:LEN) is not on our list of 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 51 hedge fund portfolios held Lennar Corporation (NYSE:LEN) at the end of first quarter 2023 which was 54 in the previous quarter.
We discussed Lennar Corporation (NYSE:LEN) in another article and shared Aristotle Capital Value Equity Strategy’s views on the company. In addition, please check out our hedge fund investor letters Q1 2023 page for more investor letters from hedge funds and other leading investors.
Suggested Articles:
- Top 20 Countries with the Highest Tobacco Consumption
- 15 Big Companies that Aren’t Profitable
- 15 Most Dangerous Cities in Florida
Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.
