Baron Funds, an investment management company, released its “Baron Health Care Fund” first quarter 2023 investor letter. A copy of the same can be downloaded here. The first quarter was difficult for the fund, as it failed to participate in the broader market rally and declined 3.69% compared to the 3.27% decline for the benchmark Russell 3000 Health Care Index and a 7.50% increase for the S&P 500 Index. In addition, please check the fund’s top five holdings to know its best picks in 2023.
Baron Health Care Fund highlighted stocks like The Cooper Companies, Inc. (NYSE:COO) in the first quarter 2023 investor letter. Headquartered in San Ramon, California, The Cooper Companies, Inc. (NYSE:COO) is a medical device company. On May 17, 2023, The Cooper Companies, Inc. (NYSE:COO) stock closed at $385.72 per share. One-month return of The Cooper Companies, Inc. (NYSE:COO) was 0.11%, and its shares gained 13.89% of their value over the last 52 weeks. The Cooper Companies, Inc. (NYSE:COO) has a market capitalization of $19.076 billion.
Baron Health Care Fund made the following comment about The Cooper Companies, Inc. (NYSE:COO) in its Q1 2023 investor letter:
“The Cooper Companies, Inc. (NYSE:COO) is a global medical device company operating under two business units: CooperVision, a leading manufacturer of a full range of specialty soft contact lenses and modalities; and CooperSurgical, targeting women’s health care and fertility. Shares rose on an across-the-board beat and raised fiscal year revenue/EPS guidance on a stronger outlook for organic growth, better operational efficiencies, and more favorable foreign exchange rates. CooperVision remains well positioned to participate in the multi-year shift to higher priced, higher margin daily and silicon hydrogel lenses. Its broad product portfolio and customer service focus position CooperSurgical to gain share in the $1 billion-plus global fertility market, which benefits from sustainable demographic tailwinds, including increasing maternal age, improving access to treatment, increased patient awareness, growth in number of fertility clinics, and expanding insurance coverage for infertility. Lastly, the company has the first mover advantage in the $5 billion-plus myopia management category, with potential for MiSight to become the standard of care.
We added to our position in The Cooper Companies, Inc., a medical device company that is a global leader in its two verticals, CooperVision (contact lenses) and CooperSurgical (women’s health/fertility products and services). On the contact lens side, the overall market is growing, driven by the increased incidence of myopia, and Cooper is enjoying above market growth driven by the company’s wide range of specialty lens offerings and the multi-year trend of users trading up to daily silicone hydrogel lenses where Cooper is under-indexed. The contact lens market is an oligopoly with high barriers to entry and long product cycles. Especially exciting is Cooper’s portfolio of products for the treatment of myopia, including MiSight, the first FDA approved contact lens for myopia in children, a huge and growing market. On the women’s health side, CooperSurgical has positioned itself, primarily through niche acquisitions, to be a one-stop shop for gynecologists and obstetricians and has built a strong and expanding franchise in the rapidly growing global fertility market. We believe Cooper is a high-quality, well-managed earnings compounder that is well positioned to achieve solid top-line growth and expanding margins. We also expect Cooper to achieve attractive returns from strategic acquisitions facilitated by the company’s strong free cash flow.”
Photo by Ozkan Guner on Unsplash
The Cooper Companies, Inc. (NYSE:COO) is not on our list of 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 37 hedge fund portfolios held The Cooper Companies, Inc. (NYSE:COO) at the end of the fourth quarter which was 35 in the previous quarter.
We discussed The Cooper Companies, Inc. (NYSE:COO) in another article and shared the list of eyecare stocks with upside potential. In addition, please check out our hedge fund investor letters Q1 2023 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.
