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 EastGroup Properties, Inc. (NYSE:EGP) in the first quarter 2023 investor letter. EastGroup Properties, Inc. (NYSE:EGP) is an equity real estate investment trust focused on industrial properties. On June 27, 2023, EastGroup Properties, Inc. (NYSE:EGP) stock closed at $172.36 per share. One-month return of EastGroup Properties, Inc. (NYSE:EGP) was 4.71%, and its shares gained 10.21% of their value over the last 52 weeks. EastGroup Properties, Inc. (NYSE:EGP) has a market capitalization of $7.655 billion.
Baron Real Estate Fund made the following comment about EastGroup Properties, Inc. (NYSE:EGP) in its first quarter 2023 investor letter:
“Following a sharp correction in its share price in 2022 and several discussions with CEO Marshall Loeb, we initiated a position in EastGroup Properties, Inc. (NYSE:EGP), a REIT that is a leading developer, acquirer, and operator of industrial properties in major Sunbelt markets throughout the U.S. The company has assembled a high-quality real estate portfolio and management has a strong track record of delivering consistent gains in occupancy and rent growth and maintaining strong expense controls. Looking forward, we believe in-place rents on leases signed remain well below current market rents thereby providing visibility into strong embedded growth potential. Further, management maintains a conservative balance sheet. We believe the shares are attractively valued and the company could be targeted as a takeover candidate should its valuation remain depressed.
Industrial REITs that we expect to benefit from ongoing robust warehouse demand and increased rents fueled by the growth in e-commerce and the buildout of logistics’ supply chains. Examples: Prologis, Inc., Rexford Industrial Realty, Inc., EastGroup Properties, Inc., and Terreno Realty Corporation.”
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EastGroup Properties, Inc. (NYSE:EGP) is not on our list of 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 16 hedge fund portfolios held EastGroup Properties, Inc. (NYSE:EGP) at the end of first quarter 2023 which was 18 in the previous quarter.
We discussed EastGroup Properties, Inc. (NYSE:EGP) in another article and shared Baron Real Estate Income Fund’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.
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Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.
