Baron Funds, an investment management company, released its “Baron Asset Fund” second quarter 2023 investor letter. A copy of the same can be downloaded here. U.S. equities continued their upward trend in the second consecutive quarter. The rise was led by the outsized performance of a few large technology companies, partly driven by the hype surrounding their potential benefits from the widespread adoption of artificial intelligence (AI). Against this backdrop, the Baron Asset Fund increased by 3.63% (Institutional Shares) trailing Russell Midcap Growth Index’s 6.23% returns. The underperformance of certain stocks affected the fund in the quarter. In addition, please check the fund’s top five holdings to know its best picks in 2023.
Baron Asset Fund highlighted stocks like Aspen Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZPN) in the second quarter 2023 investor letter. Headquartered in Bedford, Massachusetts, Aspen Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZPN) is a software technology company focusing on industrial automation. On July 27, 2023, Aspen Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZPN) stock closed at $173.01 per share. One-month return of Aspen Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZPN) was 3.22%, and its shares lost 15.23% of their value over the last 52 weeks. Aspen Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZPN) has a market capitalization of $11.223 billion.
Baron Asset Fund made the following comment about Aspen Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZPN) in its second quarter 2023 investor letter:
“Aspen Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZPN) is a leading software company focused on industrial automation. Its shares detracted from performance after falling in response to mixed financial results. The company experienced a slowdown in sales to chemical customers, and it suffered from integration issues related to its 2022 merger with a subsidiary of Emerson Electric Company. We believe that the integration challenges are an unfortunate, but temporary, outcome of a business combination that should ultimately prove fruitful. We are hopeful that the decline among Aspen’s chemical customers proves to be a short-term cyclical event. We believe Aspen’s long-term revenue and free-cash-flow growth potential remains intact, and the current share price offers attractive return potential.”
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Aspen Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZPN) is not on our list of 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 22 hedge fund portfolios held Aspen Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZPN) at the end of first quarter which was 21 in the previous quarter.
We discussed Aspen Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZPN) in another article and shared Baron Asset Fund’s insights on the company in the previous quarter. In addition, please check out our hedge fund investor letters Q2 2023 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.
