Baron Funds: “We Continue to Have Conviction in ICON”

Baron Funds, an asset management firm, published its “Baron Health Care Fund” first quarter 2022 investor letter – a copy of which can be downloaded here. In the quarter ended March 31, 2022, Baron Health Care Fund (the “Fund”) declined 9.93% (Institutional Shares), compared with the 4.56% decline for the Russell 3000 Health Care Index (the “Benchmark”) and the 4.60% decline for the S&P 500 Index. Try to spend some time taking a look at the fund’s top 5 holdings to be informed about their best picks for 2022.

In its Q1 2022 investor letter, Baron Health Care Fund mentioned ICON Public Limited Company (NASDAQ:ICLR) and explained its insights for the company. Founded in 1990, ICON Public Limited Company (NASDAQ:ICLR) is a Dublin, Ireland-based clinical research organization company with a $16.9 billion market capitalization. ICON Public Limited Company (NASDAQ:ICLR) delivered a -32.51% return since the beginning of the year, while its 12-month returns are down by -2.54%. The stock closed at $209.01 per share on June 13, 2022.

Here is what Baron Health Care Fund has to say about ICON Public Limited Company (NASDAQ:ICLR) in its Q1 2022 investor letter:

“Investments in life sciences tools & services, pharmaceuticals, and biotechnology detracted the most from relative performance. Weakness in life sciences tools & services was partly due to the underperformance of clinical research organization ICON Plc (NASDAQ:ICLR). Despite reporting in-line quarterly results and issuing strong 2022 guidance, ICON’s shares pulled back due to fears about early-stage biotechnology funding and the rotation out of strong 2021 performers. We continue to have conviction in ICON.”

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Our calculations show that ICON Public Limited Company (NASDAQ:ICLR) fell short and didn’t make it on our list of the 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. ICON Public Limited Company (NASDAQ:ICLR) was in 30 hedge fund portfolios at the end of the first quarter of 2022, compared to 29 funds in the previous quarter. ICON Public Limited Company (NASDAQ:ICLR) delivered a -6.41% return in the past 3 months. You can find other investor letters from hedge funds and prominent investors on our hedge fund investor letters 2022 Q1 page.

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