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Baron Global Advantage Fund

Symbol BGAIXCUSIP: 06828M835
Symbol BGAIXCUSIP: 06828M835
G
Non-U.S./Global

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$43.12

Daily Change $0.50 (1.17%)
As of 02/10/2025

Net Assets

$589.49 M

As of 12/31/2024

Morningstar Medalist Rating™

medal Logo

BRONZE

Inception date

04/30/2012

Prices & Performance

PricesAs of 02/10/2025

NAVDaily Change ($)Daily Change (%)MTDQTDYTD
$43.12$0.501.17%3.13%8.31%8.31%
NAV$43.12
Daily Change ($)$0.50
Daily Change (%)1.17%
MTD3.13%
QTD8.31%
YTD8.31%

PerformanceAs of 12/31/2024

Portfolio or IndexQTD1YTD11 Year3 Years5 Years10 YearsSince Inception 04/30/2012
BGAIX - Baron Global Advantage Fund - I11.86%26.42%26.42%-8.40%6.84%11.05%11.72%
MSCI ACWI Index-0.99%17.49%17.49%5.44%10.06%9.23%9.75%
MSCI ACWI Growth Index2.64%24.23%24.23%5.72%13.07%11.88%11.85%

Performance InformationAs of 12/31/2024

Performance statistics3 Years5 Years10 Years
Standard Deviation (%)27.7727.2322.48
Sharpe Ratio-0.450.160.41
Alpha (%)-12.92-2.631.41
Beta1.341.171.17
R-Squared (%)62.7456.0159.60
Tracking Error (%)17.8518.2914.51
Information Ratio-0.78-0.180.13
Upside Capture (%)88.7399.31112.51
Downside Capture (%)149.70113.30108.61
Except for Standard Deviation and Sharpe Ratio, the performance based-characteristics above were calculated relative to the Baron Global Advantage Fund's(BGAIX) benchmark (MSCI ACWI Growth Index). Performance statistics for additional periods will be provided on request. Source FactSet: SPAR.

Portfolio Holdings & Characteristics

HoldingsAs of 01/31/2025

HoldingSector% of Net Assets
Space Exploration Technologies Corp.
Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SPACEX.A) designs, manufactures, and launches rockets, satellites, and spacecrafts. Its ultimate goal is to make humanity multi-planetary. Products include reusable orbital launch offerings and a broadband service leveraging its satellite constellation, Starlink.
We believe SpaceX will continue to drive down the cost of space launches and capture market share with its unique, reliable, and improving reusable launch capabilities. As costs decline, we also expect demand for access to space to increase. By leveraging its launch cost leadership, vertical integration, and innovative design approach, we think SpaceX will have an advantage in building and operating its rapidly expanding satellite-based broadband services, creating an even more attractive growth profile for the company.
Industrials9.9%
Shopify Inc.
Shopify Inc. (SHOP) is a cloud-based software provider offering an operating system for multi-channel commerce. The company serves over 2 million merchants that processed $235 billion of gross merchandise value (GMV) in 2023. Shopify is the second-largest e-commerce player in the U.S., measured by GMV.
Shopify has developed a scalable platform that offers an end-to-end commerce solution to merchants of all sizes, including offline, international, and B2B. Shopify’s aggregate scale, innovation, and ecosystem of partners enable merchants to take payments, receive loans, and sell their products internationally. With less than 2% share of $20 trillion in global commerce, it has a long runway for growth.
Information Technology9.8%
Cloudflare, Inc.
Cloudflare, Inc. (NET) offers enhanced security and performance for websites, apps, and SaaS. Its network spans over 100 countries and connects with over 10,000 ISPs, cloud providers, SaaS providers, and enterprises. Its edge network operates within 100 milliseconds of 99% of the developed world.
Cloudflare's technology is 30% to 50% cheaper than that of peers, while its gross margins are 1,000 to 2,000 basis points higher. It is widely respected among developers, who migrate it from personal to enterprise use. These advantages allow Cloudflare to service about 25% of global internet traffic. We believe Cloudflare will maintain 30%-plus growth for several years given its unique technology and go-to-market strategy that is disrupting a $40 billion market, along with the potential to attack a nascent Edge Computing market that could grow to $10 billion in four years.
Information Technology7.6%
MercadoLibre, Inc.
MercadoLibre, Inc. (MELI) is the largest e-commerce company in Latin America. The company operates the MercadoLibre e-commerce marketplace, the Mercado Pago fintech platform, and the Mercado Envios suite of shipping solutions for sellers on its platform.
MercadoLibre benefits from the emergence of two secular trends: e-commerce and digital payments. The company has a significant first-mover advantage and is investing aggressively in logistics to widen its competitive moat. Latin America is a predominantly cash-based economy with e-commerce penetration under 20%, and MercadoLibre has an attractive, asset-light marketplace business model. We believe its logistics network is a key competitive advantage, and we see a significant opportunity in the growth of its fintech offerings.
Consumer Discretionary7.4%
NVIDIA Corporation
NVIDIA Corporation (NVDA) sells semiconductors, systems, and software for accelerated computing, gaming, and generative AI (GenAI).
Computing demand has been doubling every one to two years, driven by electrification, digitization, and recent advancements in AI, yet supply growth has decelerated dramatically due to the slowdown in Moore's law. NVIDIA’s accelerated computing architecture enables continued growth in supply of computing through parallelization. We are at the tipping point of a new era in computing, with NVIDIA at its epicenter as GenAI adoption grows. Given its leading market share in gaming, data centers, and autonomous machines, we believe NVIDIA can grow rapidly for years to come.
Information Technology7.1%
Coupang, Inc.
Coupang, Inc. (CPNG) is South Korea's largest e-commerce company.
Coupang's proprietary logistics system enables faster delivery times and easier returns than peers, which we think should drive superior customer retention, lifetime value, and network effects, allowing Coupang to become highly profitable in the intermediate term. Long term, we believe Coupang will become the dominant player in South Korean e-commerce and among the country's largest retailers. We also like its prospects in third-party fulfillment and advertising.
Consumer Discretionary4.8%
argenx SE
Argenx SE (ARGX) is a biotechnology company developing antibodies for the treatment of autoimmune disorders. The company is in the early years of the commercial launch of its drug Vyvgart (efgartigimod alfa) for a rare muscle weakness disorder.
Efgartigimod has potentially broad applicability in ameliorating overactive antibody-based diseases. Efgartigimod is a true "pipeline in a product," where the product itself is the platform, as it has the potential to be used against a diverse range of diseases—something that is rarely achieved in the biotechnology space. We expect the share price to increase as argenx proves its product’s effectiveness in multiple autoantibody disorders.
Health Care4.4%
Datadog, Inc.
Datadog, Inc. (DDOG) offers an SaaS-based observability platform that helps businesses keep software and applications up and running. Core products include infrastructure, application performance monitoring, log management, and cloud security to provide visibility into and secure IT environments. 
Datadog employs a viral go-to-market strategy and an expanding product line to generate growth through its land-and-expand business model. It is also rapidly increasing its platform capabilities with a broad use, single-pane-of-glass strategy. With strong secular trends, a large total addressable market, flexible platform, solid unit economics, and robust product line, we believe Datadog is well positioned to generate significant growth over the coming years.
Information Technology3.7%
Snowflake Inc.
Snowflake Inc. (SNOW) provides a cloud-native data platform with use cases across data analytics, data sharing, and recently added transactional workloads. It enables storage and computation across leading public cloud providers and simpler and cheaper deployments with high concurrency usage.
Snowflake is leveraging its cloud-native architecture to offer more affordable, scaled, secure, and easy-to-use functionality that is lacking in many competing solutions. Its early-mover advantage, broad vision, strong brand, growing system, and talented management should enable growth within a large addressable market. In addition, we expect Snowflake’s new CEO and product launches to allow the company to better address growing data needs across generative AI workloads. Snowflake's unique marketplace and data sharing offerings should also accelerate usage among customers.
Information Technology3.5%
Wix.com Ltd.
Wix.com Ltd. (WIX) provides cloud-based software to help micro-businesses build and maintain their websites and manage their operations. Wix has over 275 million registered users and over 6 million premium subscribers.
Wix is a leading website-design and business management platform, targeting a large market, as most businesses today require an online presence. We think Wix has strong competitive advantages, driven by product innovation, data-driven distribution, and its leading brand. Wix's technological edge, supported by over 2,000 R&D personnel, results in fast iteration with first-to-market features and vertical offerings. Wix's recent push into the do-it-for-me market with its Wix Studio product opens a large new market.
Information Technology3.1%
Total
Total
61.3%
Top Ten Fund Holdings based on net assets. Portfolio holdings may change over time.
Portfolio holdings are subject to change. Current and future portfolio holdings are subject to risk.

Contributors / DetractorsQuarterly as of 12/31/2024

Top ContributorsAverage WeightContribution
Space Exploration Technologies Corp.7.18%3.80%
Shopify Inc.9.37%2.86%
Cloudflare, Inc.5.81%1.69%
NVIDIA Corporation8.98%1.26%
BILL Holdings, Inc.1.78%0.87%
Source: FactSet PA.

GICS Sector BreakdownAs of 01/31/2025

Sector

Information Technology

52.4%

Consumer Discretionary

19.9%

Industrials

13.6%

Financials

7.9%

Health Care

5.9%

Materials

0.1%

Cash & Cash Equivalents

0.1%

Communication Services

0.0%

01/31/2025
Systems Software18.40%
Internet Services & Infrastructure14.30%
Broadline Retail 12.90%
Aerospace & Defense9.90%
Semiconductors9.40%
Transaction & Payment Processing Services 4.90%
Biotechnology4.80%
IT Consulting & Other Services4.80%
Consumer Finance3.00%
Semiconductor Materials & Equipment 2.80%
Restaurants2.70%
Application Software2.60%
Air Freight & Logistics2.00%
Human Resource & Employment Services1.60%
Automobile Manufacturers1.60%
048121620
Systems Software18.40%
Internet Services & Infrastructure14.30%
Broadline Retail 12.90%
Aerospace & Defense9.90%
Semiconductors9.40%
Transaction & Payment Processing Services 4.90%
Biotechnology4.80%
IT Consulting & Other Services4.80%
Consumer Finance3.00%
Semiconductor Materials & Equipment 2.80%
Restaurants2.70%
Application Software2.60%
Air Freight & Logistics2.00%
Human Resource & Employment Services1.60%
Automobile Manufacturers1.60%
048121620
United States46.30%
Canada9.80%
Netherlands9.60%
Argentina9.50%
India5.80%
Israel4.80%
Korea4.80%
United Kingdom2.60%
Poland2.00%
Spain1.40%
Taiwan1.30%
Brazil1.30%
China0.70%
081624324048
United States46.30%
Canada9.80%
Netherlands9.60%
Argentina9.50%
India5.80%
Israel4.80%
Korea4.80%
United Kingdom2.60%
Poland2.00%
Spain1.40%
Taiwan1.30%
Brazil1.30%
China0.70%
081624324048

Portfolio CharacteristicsAs of 12/31/2024

DescriptionBaron Global Advantage FundMSCI ACWI Index
Inception DateApril 30, 2012
Net Assets$589.49 million
# of Issuers / % of Net Assets38 / 99.5%
Turnover (3 Year Average)7.27%
Active Share92.1%
Median Market Cap$24.44 billion$13.32 billion
Weighted Average Market Cap$386.99 billion$751.55 billion
Gross Expense Ratio0.95%
Net Expense Ratio0.91%
Current Expense Ratio Date12/31/2023
EPS Growth (3-5 year forecast)27.6%13.5%
Price/Earnings Ratio (trailing 12-month)38.221.2
Price/Book Ratio4.92.5
Price/Sales Ratio3.52.0
The Net Assets include all share classes combined.
Price/Book Ratio and Price/Sales Ratio are calculated using the Weighted Harmonic Average. Source: FactSet PA. Internal valuation metrics may differ.

Distributions

Record DateEx DatePayable DateIncomeReturn of CapitalShort-Term Capital GainLong-Term Capital GainTotalRe-Invest NAVCalendar-Year Return
09/26/202209/27/202209/28/2022$0.0000$0.0000$0.0000$0.4968$0.4968$27.37-51.57%
09/23/201509/24/201509/25/2015$0.0420$0.0000$0.0000$0.0162$0.0582$12.63
09/22/201409/23/201409/24/2014$0.0000$0.0000$0.0009$0.0000$0.0009$14.275.32%
For estimated distributions, visit the Tax Center
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