Baron Funds, an investment management firm, released its “Baron Global Advantage Fund” third quarter 2024 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. The fund was up 5.6% (institutional shares) in the third quarter compared to a 6.6% gain for the MSCI ACWI Index (the Index) and a 4.1% gain for the MSCI ACWI Growth Index, the Fund’s benchmark. In the third quarter, global equity indices rose, with several reaching new all-time highs. In addition, you can check the fund’s top 5 holdings to find out its best picks for 2024.
Baron Global Advantage Fund highlighted stocks like Illumina, Inc. (NASDAQ:ILMN) in the third quarter 2024 investor letter. Illumina, Inc. (NASDAQ:ILMN) offers sequencing- and array-based solutions for genetic and genomic analysis. The one-month return of Illumina, Inc. (NASDAQ:ILMN) was 6.60%, and its shares gained 62.29% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On November 7, 2024, Illumina, Inc. (NASDAQ:ILMN) stock closed at $155.15 per share with a market capitalization of $24.607 billion.
Baron Global Advantage Fund stated the following regarding Illumina, Inc. (NASDAQ:ILMN) in its Q3 2024 investor letter:
“We added to our investment in Illumina, Inc. (NASDAQ:ILMN). The company supplies instruments and consumables for next generation sequencing (NGS), a technique that enables massive amounts of genetic analysis in both research and clinical diagnosis. It is the dominant player today with 80% of the market. We believe Illumina is on a path to return to double-digit growth in the intermediate to long term while benefiting from a long runway for growth with genomes sequenced for less than 1% of humans and 0.1% of species. We believe that Illumina would be able to grow its TAM by continuing to reduce the cost of sequencing as it has in the past (its recent Novaseq X) has reduced the cost from $600 to $200. We also believe that Illumina is more than a sequencing company. It’s an entire workflow and ecosystem, from sample prep to sequencing and bioinformatic analytics. While it used to be that the sequencing portion was a big chunk of the whole workflow’s costs, nowadays it’s in line with the other parts of the workflow. If researchers are used to Illumina protocols and their solution is spec’ed in on the workflows (particularly on the clinical side), it doesn’t make sense to save a bit more money on that few hundred dollars, if Illumina makes them more efficient on the other parts of the workflow like sample prep and bioinformatics.”
A research facility with medical professionals surrounded by diagnostic equipment.
Illumina, Inc. (NASDAQ:ILMN) is not on our list of 31 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 56 hedge fund portfolios held Illumina, Inc. (NASDAQ:ILMN) at the end of the second quarter which was 48 in the previous quarter. In the third quarter of 2024, Illumina, Inc. (NASDAQ:ILMN) generated $1.1 billion in revenues, which is in line with the expectations. While we acknowledge the potential of Illumina, Inc. (NASDAQ:ILMN) 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 Illumina, Inc. (NASDAQ:ILMN) and shared Artisan Mid Cap Fund’s views on the company. In addition, please check out our hedge fund investor letters Q3 2024 page for more investor letters from hedge funds and other leading investors.
READ NEXT: Michael Burry Is Selling These Stocks and A New Dawn Is Coming to US Stocks.
Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.