Baron Funds, an investment management company, released its “Baron Asset Fund” first quarter 2024 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. US markets continued its strong rally in the first quarter. Robust economic data and relatively strong corporate earnings boosted the rally along with the anticipation of a soft landing of the market. The fund (Institutional Shares) appreciated 6.00% in the quarter compared to 9.50% for the Russell Midcap Growth Index and 10.56% for the S&P 500 Index. Stock selection and headwinds from the Fund’s longtime style biases led the fund to underperform in the first quarter. In addition, please check the fund’s top five holdings to know its best picks in 2024.
Baron Asset Fund featured stocks like ANSYS, Inc. (NASDAQ:ANSS) in the first quarter 2024 investor letter. Headquartered in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, ANSYS, Inc. (NASDAQ:ANSS) is an engineering simulation software developer. On May 13, 2024, ANSYS, Inc. (NASDAQ:ANSS) stock closed at $328.20 per share. One-month return of ANSYS, Inc. (NASDAQ:ANSS) was 0.43%, and its shares gained 9.71% of their value over the last 52 weeks. ANSYS, Inc. (NASDAQ:ANSS) has a market capitalization of $28.652 billion.
Baron Asset Fund stated the following regarding ANSYS, Inc. (NASDAQ:ANSS) in its first quarter 2024 investor letter:
“ANSYS, Inc. (NASDAQ:ANSS) is a leading provider of physics-based simulation software. By accurately mimicking real world physics with software, simulation tools help customers reduce costs and accelerate their time to market. In December 2023, shares rose on news that several entities were interested in acquiring the company. In January 2024, Synopsys officially announced its intent to acquire ANSYS in a deal valued at nearly $35 billion, marking one of the largest software acquisitions in history. While the stock price remained above levels seen before the acquisition reports, the official announcement spurred a somewhat unfavorable market reaction given an implied price per share slightly below market expectations, a relatively long period between the announcement and anticipated closing date, heightened risk perception stemming from a substantial portion of the deal’s value being proposed to ANSYS shareholders in the form of Synopsys shares, and perceived regulatory hurdles. We believe ANSYS is well positioned to benefit from multi-year contracts, its strategic relationships with its large and diversified customer base, and secular trends such as growing product complexity and the adoption of simulation technology.”
An engineer with a diagram of a systems analysis, illustrating the complexity of its product suite.
ANSYS, Inc. (NASDAQ:ANSS) is not on our list of 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. At the end of the fourth quarter, ANSYS, Inc. (NASDAQ:ANSS) was held by 44 hedge fund portfolios, compared to 32 in the previous quarter, according to our database. In addition, please check out our hedge fund investor letters Q1 2024 page for more investor letters from hedge funds and other leading investors.
We discussed ANSYS, Inc. (NASDAQ:ANSS) in another article and shared the list of most profitable stocks of the last 12 months. Conestoga Capital Advisors Mid Cap Strategy stated in the Q4 2023 letter that ANSYS, Inc. (NASDAQ:ANSS) rose sharply in the quarter due to expectation of the company’s acquisition by Synopsys (SNPS).
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Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.
