Baron Funds, an investment management company, released its “Baron Discovery Fund” second quarter 2023 investor letter. A copy of the same can be downloaded here. The fund was up 3.58% (Institutional Shares) in the second quarter trailing the Russell 2000 Growth Index’s 7.05% return. Year-to-date, the fund returned 15.19% (Institutional Shares) compared to a 13.55% return for the benchmark. The macroeconomic landscape remains complicated, and the market’s general tendency is toward fear rather than greed. Nonetheless, the firm remains hopeful that the market has bottomed and that an economic recovery is starting. In addition, please check the fund’s top five holdings to know its best picks in 2023.
Baron Discovery Fund highlighted stocks like Repligen Corporation (NASDAQ:RGEN) in the second quarter 2023 investor letter. Headquartered in Waltham, Massachusetts, Repligen Corporation (NASDAQ:RGEN) develops and distributes bioprocessing technologies and systems. On August 18, 2023, Repligen Corporation (NASDAQ:RGEN) stock closed at $157.80 per share. One-month return of Repligen Corporation (NASDAQ:RGEN) was -10.60%, and its shares lost 30.09% of their value over the last 52 weeks. Repligen Corporation (NASDAQ:RGEN) has a market capitalization of $8.786 billion.
Baron Discovery Fund made the following comment about Repligen Corporation (NASDAQ:RGEN) in its second quarter 2023 investor letter:
“We initiated a position in Repligen Corporation (NASDAQ:RGEN), a life sciences tools supplier to the bioprocessing industry. The company offers a broad portfolio of tools involved in the production of biologic drugs, including upstream cell culture, downstream chromatography and filtration, and process analytics. Repligen operates in attractive end-markets, historically targeting monoclonal antibodies (10% to 12% market growth) and is moving into cell and gene therapies (over 25% market growth). Repligen has a strong track record of smart acquisitions and innovation, including the introduction of differentiated filters and development of in-line process analytics (real-time monitoring of the drug production process). Because this is a highly regulated industry, suppliers to bioproduction are embedded into drug manufacturing workflows, so revenue can be locked in for long periods of time. Repligen did not have a mature portfolio when the original versions of biologics (like Enbrel and Humira) came to market, so those original biologics tended to be on legacy competitor platforms – now, with generic versions (biosimilars) coming to market, Repligen has a unique opportunity to become embedded into new drug manufacturing processes with their differentiated systems. We believe the company is well positioned to benefit from the biosimilar wave that is expected after key biologic patents expire starting in 2023; once embedded into new manufacturing workflows, we see the opportunity for Repligen to drive an attractive, recurring consumables stream in an increasing number of commercial processes. Repligen has laid out a long-term goal of approximately 20% revenue growth out to 2027/2028. With EBITDA margins of roughly 30%, we see Repligen as a high-quality compounder with a best-in-class mix of growth and margins.”
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Repligen Corporation (NASDAQ:RGEN) is not on our list of 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 33 hedge fund portfolios held Repligen Corporation (NASDAQ:RGEN) at the end of second quarter which was 27 in the previous quarter.
We discussed Repligen Corporation (NASDAQ:RGEN) in another article and shared Conestoga Capital Advisors’ views on the company. 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.
