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Baron Technology Fund

Symbol BTECXCUSIP: 06828M561
Symbol BTECXCUSIP: 06828M561
SCT
Sector

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$11.79

Daily Change $0.18 (1.55%)
As of 10/08/2024

Net Assets

$35.18 M

As of 09/30/2024

Morningstar Medalist Rating™

medal Logo

GOLD

Inception date

12/31/2021

Prices & Performance

PricesAs of 10/08/2024

NAVDaily Change ($)Daily Change (%)MTDQTDYTD
$11.79$0.181.55%1.55%1.55%29.56%
NAV$11.79
Daily Change ($)$0.18
Daily Change (%)1.55%
MTD1.55%
QTD1.55%
YTD29.56%

PerformanceAs of 09/30/2024

Portfolio or IndexQTD1YTD11 YearSince Inception 12/31/2021
BTECX - Baron Technology Fund - I3.85%27.58%51.76%5.58%
MSCI ACWI Information Technology Index1.12%26.19%48.35%10.43%
S&P 500 Index5.89%22.08%36.35%8.85%
MSCI ACWI Index6.61%18.66%31.76%6.33%

Portfolio Holdings & Characteristics

HoldingsAs of 09/30/2024

HoldingSector% of Net Assets
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 the 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 Technology10.3%
Amazon.com, Inc.
Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN) is an e-commerce pioneer, innovator, and market share leader with a relentless focus on providing value and convenience to its customers. Amazon also operates the industry-leading cloud infrastructure business Amazon Web Services (AWS).
Amazon's market share of U.S. online retail sales is around 40%, while its share of global online retail sales is less than 5%. Amazon has many avenues for revenue growth, including consumer staples, apparel, international expansion, digital media offerings, private label, pharmacy services, advertising, and a better shopping experience powered by generative AI. Amazon also represents an opportunity to invest in the secular growth of cloud computing through AWS, a large, growing part of the business.
Consumer Discretionary8.6%
Microsoft Corporation
Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) is a software company traditionally known for its Windows and Office products. Over the last five years, it has built a $120 billion-plus annual cloud business, including Office 365, CRM product Dynamics 365, and infrastructure-as-a-service product Azure.
Over the past decade, Microsoft has transformed itself, refocusing the business on cloud computing and AI. Microsoft's commercial cloud business now represents over 56% of revenue and is growing around 25% year-on-year. Its moat is built on the wide reach of its sales channel, its diverse platform of software offerings, its hybrid cloud capabilities, and the high costs of switching away from its solutions, which tend to be mission critical for customers. We believe Microsoft will benefit from the growing adoption of cloud for years to come.
Information Technology7.9%
Apple Inc.
Apple Inc. (AAPL) designs, manufactures, and markets consumer electronics, computer software, and online services. Its products include the iPhone, iPad, Mac personal computer, Apple smartwatch, Apple TV, and HomePod. It also offers advertising and app discovery services through its App Store. 
As the creator and owner of one of the largest and most popular consumer electronics platforms, Apple, in our view, is well positioned to benefit from the network effect that typically accrues to platform companies. It has a large and growing ecosystem, a trusted brand, and positive optionality through leveraging its large installed base to expand into additional consumer and enterprise services. We believe Apple trades at a discount to our estimate of its intrinsic value, with capital return and growth alleviating near-term trade and iPhone demand uncertainty.
Information Technology7.5%
Broadcom Inc.
Broadcom Inc. (AVGO) designs, develops, and supplies a wide range of semiconductor and infrastructure software solutions. Its semiconductor devices serve broadband, networking, wireless, storage, and industrial markets while its software offerings focus on operational efficiency tools for large enterprises.
Broadcom’s semiconductor portfolio is reaching an inflection point, driven by its AI solutions in networking and custom compute. We expect mid-single-digits growth for the rest of the semiconductor portfolio and low-single-digits growth for the legacy software offerings, driven by cost efficiencies, cross-selling, and servicing key enterprise accounts. Broadcom's product simplification and SaaS conversion strategy should drive expansion of its VMWare business as well. The company has best-in-class margins and cash flow, which it returns to shareholders.
Information Technology5.3%
Spotify Technology S.A.
Spotify Technology S.A. (SPOT) is the world's leading music streaming service, with approximately 40% market share. The company monetizes through several tiers of subscriptions, advertising, and miscellaneous a la carte pricing.
With over 246 million paying subscribers, Spotify has created a two-sided marketplace where creators can monetize their work and consumers can stream music. Longer term, we expect the company to grow to over one billion total subscribers (from 626 million today) and improve margins materially through advertising, its artist promotions marketplace, and improved cost discipline. On the product side, we expect Spotify to continually improve its value proposition through additional features and expansion into adjacencies such as audiobooks.
Communication Services4.9%
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited (TSM) is the world's largest independent semiconductor foundry, manufacturing chips on behalf of other companies.
TSMC is the dominant force in leading edge semiconductor foundry manufacturing, as it benefits from economies of scale and a superior cost structure. Its successful track record of deploying new technology faster than competitors enables it to maintain its market share and pricing power. We believe TSMC’s investments in advanced nodes will solidify its superior market positioning and profitability in the long run.
Information Technology3.9%
Tesla, Inc.
Tesla, Inc. (TSLA) manufactures electric vehicles, including a luxury sedan and CUV (S/X), a mid-sized luxury sedan and hatchback (3/Y), and pickup and semi-trucks. It is also ramping up internal battery cell production, energy solutions, and software offerings such as full self-driving and insurance.
We expect Tesla will continue to grow its automotive business through international production capacity and product expansion. Tesla's vertical integration, technology innovation, brand, profitability, and growing supplier support offer unique and durable growth opportunities that are hard to replicate. In addition, Tesla's energy and software expertise is broadening the industrial opportunity to large and profitable revenue avenues that were previously locked in the legacy vehicle architecture, such as autonomous driving, robotics, insurance, and other AI use cases.
Consumer Discretionary3.3%
Duolingo, Inc.
Duolingo, Inc. (DUOL) is the top language learning app in the world, with over 100 million monthly active users. It is known for its effective use of gamification and high engagement levels.
Duolingo is the clear global market leader in language learning, with strong user growth and engagement thanks to its freemium model and gamified approach. We think Duolingo can become an important tool for the nearly 2 billion people worldwide learning a language, especially with its AI tier that allows users to practice real-world conversation skills. We believe user growth, monetization, and profitability still have significant potential as Duolingo leverages its large total addressable market. We also see positive optionality in its nascent Math and Music products.
Consumer Discretionary3.2%
GDS Holdings Limited
GDS Holdings Limited (GDS) is a market-leading China-based operator of data centers with over 50 data centers, five Tier 1 markets, and approximately 450,000 square meters in service. More than 50% of its revenue comes from top Chinese internet companies.
We believe that, as the preferred provider to Alibaba and Tencent, as well as many other large emerging technology companies, GDS is poised to benefit from the explosive growth in cloud computing in China. Cloud adoption is still in the early stages in China, and GDS is capturing more than its fair share of incremental deployments due to its proven track record and carrier-neutral value proposition.
Information Technology2.3%
Total
Total
57.2%
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 06/30/2024

Top ContributorsAverage WeightContribution
NVIDIA Corporation11.02%3.89%
Broadcom Inc.5.10%1.18%
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited4.07%1.08%
Spotify Technology S.A.4.88%0.89%
Apple Inc.3.66%0.86%
Source: FactSet PA.

GICS Sector BreakdownAs of 09/30/2024

Sector

Information Technology

64.8%

Consumer Discretionary

16.0%

Communication Services

11.0%

Cash & Cash Equivalents

3.9%

Real Estate

2.2%

Industrials

2.2%

Sub-Industry

09/30/2024
Semiconductors23.80%
Systems Software13.10%
Broadline Retail 8.60%
Application Software7.60%
Technology Hardware, Storage & Peripherals7.50%
Movies & Entertainment4.90%
Internet Services & Infrastructure4.20%
Interactive Media & Services3.80%
Semiconductor Materials & Equipment 3.60%
Automobile Manufacturers3.30%
Education Services3.20%
Electronic Equipment & Instruments3.00%
Advertising2.30%
Real Estate Services 2.20%
IT Consulting & Other Services2.00%
04812162024
Semiconductors23.80%
Systems Software13.10%
Broadline Retail 8.60%
Application Software7.60%
Technology Hardware, Storage & Peripherals7.50%
Movies & Entertainment4.90%
Internet Services & Infrastructure4.20%
Interactive Media & Services3.80%
Semiconductor Materials & Equipment 3.60%
Automobile Manufacturers3.30%
Education Services3.20%
Electronic Equipment & Instruments3.00%
Advertising2.30%
Real Estate Services 2.20%
IT Consulting & Other Services2.00%
04812162024

Portfolio CharacteristicsAs of 06/30/2024

DescriptionBaron Technology FundMSCI ACWI Information Technology Index
Inception DateDecember 31, 2021
Net Assets$35.18 million
# of Issuers / % of Net Assets36 / 99.5%
Turnover (2 Year)31.50%
Active Share54.8%
Median Market Cap$45.58 billion$11.40 billion
Weighted Average Market Cap$1.34 trillion$1.69 trillion
Gross Expense Ratio5.04%
Net Expense Ratio0.95%
Current Expense Ratio Date12/31/2023
EPS Growth (3-5 year forecast)25.5%21.3%
Price/Earnings Ratio (trailing 12-month)50.437.5
Price/Book Ratio8.35.8
Price/Sales Ratio7.35.5
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.