Baron Funds, an investment management company, released its “Baron Health Care Fund” third quarter 2024 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. The fund appreciated 5.81%% (Institutional Shares) in the quarter compared to a 6.74% gain for the Russell 3000 Health Care Index (benchmark) and a 6.23% gain for the Russell 3000 Index (the Index). Since inception, the fund appreciated 13.02% on an annualized basis compared to an 11.47% gain for the benchmark and a 14.03% gain for the index. In addition, please check the fund’s top five holdings to know its best picks in 2024.
Baron Health Care Fund highlighted stocks like Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:REGN) in the Q3 2024 investor letter. Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:REGN) is a biopharmaceutical company that discovers, invents, develops, manufactures, and commercializes medicines for treating various diseases. The one-month return of Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:REGN) was -17.39%, and its shares gained 2.37% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On October 31, 2024, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:REGN) stock closed at $838.20 per share with a market capitalization of $92.11 billion.
Baron Health Care Fund stated the following regarding Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:REGN) in its Q3 2024 investor letter:
“We purchased Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:REGN), a biopharmaceutical company that was built on a foundation in basic scientific research and antibody development. The company has successfully developed several blockbuster medicines, including Eylea and Eylea HD for retinal diseases (such as wet age-related macular degeneration, diabetic macular edema, and diabetic retinopathy) and Dupixent for immunological and inflammatory diseases (such as atopic dermatitis, asthma, and COPD). While Eylea is nearing the end of its patent life and faces potential biosimilar competition, the company has been transitioning patients to Eylea HD, which is a higher dose, longer-acting formulation of Eylea, and Dupixent is growing rapidly through indication expansion. Beyond the current product portfolio, Regeneron has an exciting new product pipeline with over 35 candidates in various stages of development, including a novel treatment for treating severe food allergy, a combination checkpoint inhibitor therapy for melanoma, lung cancer and other solid tumors, biospecific antibodies for blood cancers, and Factor XI antibodies for blood clot prevention, among others. Based on Regeneron’s track record of success discovering and developing new drugs, we are optimistic the pipeline will deliver some successes, which we think will drive upside in the stock.”
A pharmacist in a lab coat carefully analyzing a vial of medicine for its quality.
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:REGN) is not on our list of 31 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 57 hedge fund portfolios held Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:REGN) at the end of the second quarter which was 63 in the previous quarter. While we acknowledge the potential of Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:REGN) 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 Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:REGN) and shared the list of high growth NASDAQ stocks that are profitable in 2024. In addition, please check out our hedge fund investor letters Q3 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.