Baron Capital, an investment management company, released its Q1 2026 investor letter for the “Baron Health Care Fund”. A copy of the letter is available to download here. Baron Health Care Fund (the Fund) declined 6.97% (Institutional Shares) in the quarter, compared to the 4.88% decline for the Russell 3000 Health Care Index (the Benchmark) and the 3.96% decline for the Russell 3000 Index (the Index). The Fund appreciated 9.39% on an annualized basis since its inception, compared to the 8.97% gain for the Benchmark and the 13.26% gain for the Index. The disappointing stock selection drove the Fund’s underperformance in the quarter. Despite recent challenges, the Fund believes the long-term outlook for health care remains positive due to factors including an aging population, rising chronic disease rates, advances in biotechnology, and increased health care spending. In addition, please check the Fund’s top five holdings to know its best picks in 2026.
In its first-quarter 2026 investor letter, Baron Health Care Fund highlighted Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN). Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) is a leading multinational technology company that focuses on the development and commercialization of human therapeutics. On May 1, 2026, Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) closed at $329.82 per share. One-month return of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) was -3.72%, and its shares gained 17.77% over the past 52 weeks. Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) has a market capitalization of $178 billion.
Baron Health Care Fund stated the following regarding Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) in its Q1 2026 investor letter:
“Poor stock selection in biotechnology was exacerbated by not owning Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN), whose share price increased 8% for the quarter. We think Amgen is fairly valued based on its long term growth potential and do not believe the company meets our investment return hurdle.”
Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) is not on our list of 40 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds Heading Into 2026. According to our database, 70 hedge fund portfolios held Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) at the end of the fourth quarter, up from 62 in the previous quarter. While we acknowledge the risk and potential of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that some AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns and doing so within a shorter time frame. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) and that has 10,000% upside potential, check out our report about this cheapest AI stock.
In another article, we covered Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) and shared the list of best stem cell therapy stocks to buy. In addition, please check out our hedge fund investor letters Q1 2026 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.
