Baron Funds, an investment management company, released its “Baron Health Care Fund” second quarter 2023 investor letter. A copy of the same can be downloaded here. The fund advanced 9.22% (Institutional Shares) in the quarter compared to a 3.44% gain for the Russell 3000 Health Care Index (benchmark) and an 8.74% gain for the S&P 500 Index. Since its inception, on April 30, 2018, the fund gained 13.58% on an annualized basis, compared to the benchmark’s 10.85% gain and the S&P 500 Index’s 12.54% return. Favorable stock selection led the fund to outperform in the quarter. Investments in biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, and healthcare equipment accounted for most of the relative gains of the fund in the quarter. In addition, please check the fund’s top five holdings to know its best picks in 2023.
Baron Health Care Fund highlighted stocks like Intuitive Surgical, Inc. (NASDAQ:ISRG) in the second quarter 2023 investor letter. Headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, Intuitive Surgical, Inc. (NASDAQ:ISRG) manufactures and markets da Vinci Surgical System. On July 24, 2023, Intuitive Surgical, Inc. (NASDAQ:ISRG) stock closed at $323.56 per share. One-month return of Intuitive Surgical, Inc. (NASDAQ:ISRG) was -0.49%, and its shares gained 47.63% of their value over the last 52 weeks. Intuitive Surgical, Inc. (NASDAQ:ISRG) has a market capitalization of $113.375 billion.
Baron Health Care Fund made the following comment about Intuitive Surgical, Inc. (NASDAQ:ISRG) in its second quarter 2023 investor letter:
“Strength in health care equipment was largely due to the outperformance of sleep apnea device company Inspire Medical Systems, Inc. and robotic surgery system pioneer Intuitive Surgical, Inc. (NASDAQ:ISRG). Intuitive Surgical, Inc. manufactures and markets the da Vinci Surgical System, a robotic system used for minimally invasive procedures. Shares increased after Intuitive reported strong first quarter financial results highlighted by a 26% increase in procedures and raised guidance for 2023. These results, which came in well above Street estimates, were driven by strength in general surgery procedures in the U.S. and non-urology procedures outside the U.S. We continue to believe Intuitive has a large opportunity to expand the use of robotic surgery over time.”
Intuitive Surgical, Inc. (NASDAQ:ISRG) is not on our list of 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 67 hedge fund portfolios held Intuitive Surgical, Inc. (NASDAQ:ISRG) at the end of first quarter which was 70 in the previous quarter.
We discussed Intuitive Surgical, Inc. (NASDAQ:ISRG) in another article and shared the list of breakout stocks to buy. 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.