Here’s Why Baron Funds Became Optimistic in ANSYS Inc. (ANSS)

Baron Funds, an asset management firm, published its “Baron Asset Fund” fourth quarter 2021 investor letter – a copy of which can be downloaded here. Against this backdrop, Baron Asset Fund (the “Fund”) gained 5.04% (Institutional Shares), while the Russell Midcap Growth Index (the “Index”) gained 2.85%, and the S&P 500 Index gained 11.03%. The Fund’s outperformance was attributable to favorable stock selection and tailwinds from certain style biases, notably its underexposure to the poor performing residual volatility and beta factors. Spare some time to check the fund’s top 5 holdings to have a clue about their top bets for 2022.

Baron Asset Fund, in its Q4 2021 investor letter, mentioned ANSYS, Inc. (NASDAQ: ANSS) and discussed its stance on the firm. ANSYS, Inc. is a Canonsburg, Pennsylvania-based software company with a $30.4 billion market capitalization. ANSS delivered a -13.11% return since the beginning of the year, while its 12-month returns are down by -4.32%. The stock closed at $348.54 per share on January 17, 2022.

Here is what Baron Asset Fund has to say about ANSYS, Inc. in its Q4 2021 investor letter:

“ANSYS, Inc., a leading provider of physics-based simulation software, contributed to performance after its earnings results exceeded Street estimates. ANSYS continued to grow its sales within its largest customers. In addition, the company continued to expand its product offerings and distribution network through innovation, acquisitions, and partnerships, allowing it to address faster-growing segments of its market. We believe ANSYS remains positioned to benefit from the ongoing growth in demand for simulation across both its core and emerging technology markets.”

Our calculations show that ANSYS, Inc. (NASDAQ: ANSS) failed to obtain a mark on our list of the 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. ANSS was in 38 hedge fund portfolios at the end of the third quarter of 2021, compared to 46 funds in the previous quarter. ANSYS, Inc. (NASDAQ: ANSS) delivered a -2.87% return in the past 3 months.

In May 2021, we also shared another hedge fund’s views on ANSS in another article. You can find other letters from hedge funds and prominent investors on our hedge fund investor letters 2021 Q4 page.

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