Baron Funds, an investment management company, released its “Baron Real Estate Fund” second quarter 2024 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. The fund declined 9.20% (Institutional Shares) in the second quarter compared to a 0.22% decline for the MSCI US REIT Index (the REIT Index) and a 4.03% decline for the MSCI USA IMI Extended Real Estate Index (the MSCI Real Estate Index). Some of the Fund’s top performers from 2023 and the first quarter of 2024 experienced declines, partly due to concerns about slowing growth. This includes the shares of homebuilders, residential building product and services companies, casino and gaming operators, certain REITs, and other real estate-related companies. In addition, please check the fund’s top five holdings to know its best picks in 2024.
Baron Real Estate Fund highlighted stocks like Caesars Entertainment, Inc. (NASDAQ:CZR), in the second quarter 2024 investor letter. Caesars Entertainment, Inc. (NASDAQ:CZR) is a gaming and hospitality company. The one-month return of Caesars Entertainment, Inc. (NASDAQ:CZR) was -0.54%, and its shares lost 32.75% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On August 29, 2024, Caesars Entertainment, Inc. (NASDAQ:CZR) stock closed at $37.16 per share with a market capitalization of $8.039 billion.
Baron Real Estate Fund stated the following regarding Caesars Entertainment, Inc. (NASDAQ:CZR) in its Q2 2024 investor letter:
“In the most recent quarter, we chose to lower the Fund’s large exposure to travel-related real estate companies and exited the Fund’s position in Caesars Entertainment, Inc. (NASDAQ:CZR), the largest casino-entertainment company in the U.S. and one of the world’s most diversified casino-entertainment providers.
We have near-term reservations about a possible moderation in consumer demand for some of Caesars’ properties and believe the move higher in interest rates and a largely quiet transaction market also negatively impact certain highly leveraged companies such as Caesars. We are fans of CEO Tom Reeg and may revisit Caesars for purchase at a later date.”
A general view of a luxury resort casino, surrounded by a beautiful landscape and illuminated at night.
Caesars Entertainment, Inc. (NASDAQ:CZR) is not on our list of 31 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 54 hedge fund portfolios held Caesars Entertainment, Inc. (NASDAQ:CZR) at the end of the second quarter which was 57 in the previous quarter. While we acknowledge the potential of Caesars Entertainment, Inc. (NASDAQ:CZR) as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns, and doing so within a shorter timeframe. If you are looking for an AI stock that is as promising as NVIDIA but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.
In another article, we discussed Caesars Entertainment, Inc. (NASDAQ:CZR) and shared the list of companies that are facing activist pressure. Caesars Entertainment, Inc.’s (NASDAQ:CZR) 7% decline in Q1 2024, negatively impacted the performance of Baron Real Estate Fund. In addition, please check out our hedge fund investor letters Q2 2024 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.