Baron Funds, an asset management company, released its “Baron Real Estate Fund” second quarter 2022 investor letter. A copy of the same can be downloaded here. Baron Real Estate Fund (the “Fund”) declined 20.62% (Institutional Shares) in the second quarter of 2022, underperforming its primary benchmark, the MSCI USA IMI Extended Real Estate Index (the “MSCI Real Estate Index”), which declined 17.12%. The Fund underperformed the MSCI US REIT Index (the “REIT Index”), which declined 17.16%. In addition, you can check the top 5 holdings of the fund to know its best picks in 2022.
In its Q2 2022 investor letter, Baron Real Estate Fund mentioned SBA Communications Corporation (NASDAQ:SBAC) and explained its insights for the company. Founded in 1989, SBA Communications Corporation (NASDAQ:SBAC) is a Boca Raton, Florida-based real estate investment trust company with a $33.1 billion market capitalization. SBA Communications Corporation (NASDAQ:SBAC) delivered a -20.96% return since the beginning of the year, while its 12-month returns are down by -13.49%. The stock closed at $307.50 per share on September 15, 2022.
Here is what Baron Real Estate Fund has to say about SBA Communications Corporation (NASDAQ:SBAC) in its Q2 2022 investor letter:
“During the second quarter, we took advantage of the broader market dislocation and indiscriminate selling to increase the Fund’s exposure to wireless tower REITs at what we believe were attractive valuation levels. In June, we re-initiated a position in fellow tower operator, SBA Communications Corp.
We are optimistic on the long-term prospects for wireless cell towers for the following reasons.
- Secular Growth Drivers:
- Mobile Data Growth: The average smartphone user in the U.S. consumed approximately 3.5 megabytes (“MB”) of data per month in 2016. Today, that same user consumes 20 to 25 MB per month with the proliferation of data intensive applications such as video streaming and gaming. Within five years, industry estimates expect this number to be over 50 MB per month. With the addition of connected smart devices, overall mobile data growth is expected to grow 25% per year over the next five years…” (Click here to see the full text)
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Our calculations show that SBA Communications Corporation (NASDAQ:SBAC) fell short and didn’t make it on our list of the 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. SBA Communications Corporation (NASDAQ:SBAC) was in 36 hedge fund portfolios at the end of the second quarter of 2022, compared to 41 funds in the previous quarter. SBA Communications Corporation (NASDAQ:SBAC) delivered a 5.72% return in the past 3 months.
In August 2022, we also shared another hedge fund’s views on SBA Communications Corporation (NASDAQ:SBAC) in another article. You can find other investor letters from hedge funds and prominent investors on our hedge fund investor letters 2022 Q2 page.
Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.