Baron Funds, an investment management company, released its “Baron Health Care Fund” second quarter 2024 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. The fund declined 2.55% (Institutional Shares) in the quarter compared to a 1.02% decline for the Russell 3000 Health Care Index (benchmark) and a 3.22% gain for the Russell 3000 Index (the Index). The underperformance in the quarter was due to active sub-industry/market cap weights. In addition, please check the fund’s top five holdings to know its best picks in 2024.
Baron Health Care Fund highlighted stocks like Rocket Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:RCKT) in the second quarter 2024 investor letter. Rocket Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:RCKT) operates as a late-stage biotechnology company. The one-month return of Rocket Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:RCKT) was 11.37%, and its shares gained 27.76% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On August 1, 2024, Rocket Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:RCKT) stock closed at $22.23 per share with a market capitalization of $2.018 billion.
Baron Health Care Fund stated the following regarding Rocket Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:RCKT) in its Q2 2024 investor letter:
“Rocket Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:RCKT) specializes in the development of gene therapies for rare genetic diseases outside of oncology. Currently these include Danon disease, Fanconi anemia, lysosomal acid lipase deficiency, and pyruvate kinase deficiency. The first three drug treatments are slated for commercial launch by 2025, which should generate substantial revenue. Shares detracted from performance after the FDA extended the priority review period by three months for the Kresladi gene therapy for leukocyte adhesion deficiency, potentially influenced by sluggish competitive gene therapy launches from bluebird bio in sickle cell disease and BioMarin in hemophilia B. Given the lifesaving nature of Rocket’s therapies and the high unmet need for each of these life ending diseases, we retain conviction in our investment.”
Scientific equipment in a lab setting, revealing the cutting edge of biotechnology research.
Rocket Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:RCKT) is not on our list of 31 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 27 hedge fund portfolios held Rocket Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:RCKT) at the end of the first quarter which was 32 in the previous quarter. While we acknowledge the potential of Rocket Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:RCKT) 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 Rocket Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:RCKT) and shared Baron Health Care Fund’s views on the company in the previous quarter. In addition, please check out our hedge fund investor letters Q2 2024 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.
