Would You Rather Buy its Car or Invest in Tesla (TSLA) Stock Instead?

Baron Funds, an asset management firm, published its “Baron Opportunity Fund” third quarter 2021 investor letter – a copy of which can be downloaded here. A decline of 2.03% was delivered by the fund’s institutional shares for the third quarter of 2021. For the period, the Fund trailed the Russell 3000 Growth Index, which rose 0.69%, and the S&P 500 Index, which increased 0.58%. You can take a look at the fund’s top 5 holdings to have an idea about their best picks for 2021.

Baron Opportunity Fund, in its Q3 2021 investor letter, mentioned Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA) and discussed its stance on the firm. Tesla, Inc. is a Palo Alto, California-based vehicle manufacturing company with a $1.0 trillion market capitalization. TSLA delivered a 49.04% return since the beginning of the year, while its 12-month returns are up by 61.84%. The stock closed at $1,051.75 per share on December 07, 2021.

Here is what Baron Opportunity Fund has to say about Tesla, Inc. in its Q3 2021 investor letter:

“Tesla, Inc. – CEO Elon Musk co-founded Tesla with the auspicious goal of addressing and disrupting the entire automobile market, in which about 100 million new cars are sold each year, to bring sustainable and safer automotive transportation to the entire world, with a full line of vehicles of various styles and price points and innovations like Autopilot autonomous driving. Tesla has had more “acts” and TAM expanders over the last decade than most companies have over their lifetimes. Tesla first hit the market with the Roadster, an ultra-high-end sports car. It further attacked the high end of the auto market with the Model S sedan and the Model X SUV. But Tesla vastly expanded its TAM, and forever disrupted the automotive mass market, with its Model 3 and Model Y vehicles. Model 3 is now the best-selling car of its class globally, with Model Y set to surpass it next year. Future vehicles aimed at addressing nearly the entire 100 million new passenger car market include the Cybertruck and a $25,000 model. Tesla is now well positioned to achieve CEO Elon Musk’s public goal of selling 20 million cars by growing vehicles delivered at a 50% annual rate. Moreover, Tesla has multiple acts or new TAMs that have yet to hit their stride with Autopilot, for Tesla vehicles and third-party cars; solar and battery storage; ride share; humanoid robots; and more.”

david-von-diemar-ZBWn5DvO0hg-unsplash

Based on our calculations, Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA) was not able to clinch a spot in our list of the 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. TSLA was in 60 hedge fund portfolios at the end of the third quarter of 2021. Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA) delivered a  39.69% return in the past 3 months.

Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.