Baron Capital, an investment management company, released its Q2 2026 investor letter for the “Baron Health Care Fund”. A copy of the letter is available to download here. The Fund gained 11.99% during the quarter, compared with the 10.48% gain for the Russell 3000 Health Care Index and the 15.44% gain for the Russell 3000 Index. Since inception, the Fund appreciated 10.61% on an annualized basis, compared with 10.02% for the Benchmark and 14.83% for the Index. Strong stock selection in pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, health care equipment, and life sciences tools and services supported the Fund’s outperformance, although limited exposure to managed care stocks reduced relative returns. The Fund remains positive on health care due to improving biotechnology funding, strong acquisition activity, recovering managed care margins, and growth from an aging population, chronic disease, medical innovation, and higher health care spending. In addition, please check the Fund’s top five holdings to know the best picks in 2026.
In its second-quarter 2026 investor letter, Baron Health Care Fund highlighted Elevance Health, Inc. (NYSE:ELV). The fund re-established a position in Elevance Health, Inc. (NYSE:ELV), a US-based health benefits company, during the quarter. On August 03, 2026, Elevance Health, Inc. (NYSE:ELV) closed at $382.77 per share, reflecting a market capitalization of $81.54 billion. Elevance Health, Inc. (NYSE:ELV) posted a one-month return of -8.61%, while its shares gained 38.48% over the past 52 weeks.
Baron Health Care Fund stated the following regarding Elevance Health, Inc. (NYSE:ELV) in its Q2 2026 investor letter:
“We re-established positions in two previously owned managed care companies, UnitedHealth Group Incorporated and Elevance Health, Inc. Both companies manage diversified portfolios, providing insurance and health care services to Commercial, Exchange, Medicaid and Medicare Advantage members. We believe that the insurance cycle is turning more favorable for these companies, particularly in their Medicare Advantage businesses. After several years of elevated utilization trends, inadequate reimbursement, and regulatory challenges coupled with aggressive pricing to drive share gains, which drove operating margins to depressed levels, UnitedHealth and Elevance have exited unprofitable Medicare Advantage markets and products, right-sized benefits, and are now in the process of rebuilding profitability. We further think that the application of AI will enable them to take a significant bite out of administrative costs as well. Finally, we believe that the earnings power of both companies is well above current levels assuming they can approach their longterm target margins over the next few years. If we further assume a reasonable multiple on future earnings power, we believe there is substantial upside in both stocks.”
Elevance Health, Inc. (NYSE:ELV) is not on our list of the 40 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 87 hedge fund portfolios held Elevance Health, Inc. (NYSE:ELV) at the end of the first quarter which was 78 in the previous quarter. While we acknowledge the risk and potential of Elevance Health, Inc. (NYSE:ELV) 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 Elevance Health, Inc. (NYSE:ELV) and that has 10,000% upside potential, check out our report about this cheapest AI stock.
In another article, we covered Elevance Health, Inc. (NYSE:ELV) and shared Diamond Hill Capital Large Cap Strategy’s views on the company. In addition, please check out our hedge fund investor letters Q2 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.
