Baron Funds, an investment management company, released its “Baron Health Care Fund” fourth quarter 2024 investor letter. The Fund performed roughly in line with the Benchmark, during a challenging quarter for the larger health care industry. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. The fund declined 9.58% (Institutional Shares) in the quarter compared to a 9.75% decline for the Russell 3000 Health Care Index (benchmark) and a 2.63% gain for the Russell 3000 Index (the Index). For the full year 2024, the fund appreciated 1.55% compared to 3.48% and 23.81% gains for the indexes. In addition, please check the fund’s top five holdings to know its best picks in 2024.
In its fourth quarter 2024 investor letter, Baron Health Care Fund emphasized stocks such as Edgewise Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWTX). Edgewise Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWTX) is a biopharmaceutical company, focuses on developing therapies for the treatment of muscle disorders. The one-month return of Edgewise Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWTX) was -3.72%, and its shares gained 49.31% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On February 18, 2025, Edgewise Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWTX) stock closed at $26.13 per share with a market capitalization of $2.474 billion.
Baron Health Care Fund stated the following regarding Edgewise Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWTX) in its Q4 2024 investor letter:
“We initiated a position in Edgewise Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWTX), which develops drugs that target muscle physiology, including sevasemten to treat Becker’s muscular dystrophy (BMD) and Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), and EDG-7500 to treat hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM). Sevasemten is a myosin inhibitor that is designed to protect fast-twitch muscle against contraction-induced injury in muscular dystrophy patients. Sevasemten recently showed impressive Phase 2 data in Becker’s patients that suggests a meaningful benefit in muscle function that will likely translate into Phase 3 success. There are no medicines approved specifically for Becker’s patients today, and we think this could be a $1 billion drug. We think the drug should also work in Duchenne’s muscular dystrophy, since Duchenne’s is driven by the same underlying dysfunction in dystrophin protein as Becker’s. Edgewise is also developing EDG-7500, which targets cardiac sarcomere to treat hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. Although it’s early in development, EDG-7500 has shown early data that suggested impressive efficacy on LVOT gradient reduction without meaningful safety risks in the form of changes in ejection fraction. If this is borne out in more clinical trials, this would be an important point of differentiation versus existing treatments for HCM, which require patient monitoring and dose titration to avoid safety risks.”
A scientist in a lab coat using a microscope to study a cultured biopharmaceutical product.
Edgewise Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWTX) is not on our list of 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 41 hedge fund portfolios held Edgewise Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWTX) at the end of the third quarter which was 30 in the previous quarter. While we acknowledge the potential of Edgewise Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWTX) as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns, and doing so within a shorter timeframe. If you are looking for an AI stock that is as promising as NVIDIA but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.
In another article we discussed Edgewise Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWTX) and shared the list of long-term stock picks of billionaire Andreas Halvorsen. In addition, please check out our hedge fund investor letters Q4 2024 page for more investor letters from hedge funds and other leading investors.
READ NEXT: Michael Burry Is Selling These Stocks and A New Dawn Is Coming to US Stocks.
Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.