Baron Asset Fund (BARIX)
Objective & Strategy
The investment goal of Baron Asset Fund is capital appreciation.
The Fund invests mainly in mid-sized U.S. companies that have matured beyond their startup phase. We look for companies with significant secular growth opportunities. Diversified.
Read Latest Fund Commentary Invest In Baron Funds TodayFund Description
Baron Asset Fund invests primarily in mid-sized growth companies.
Fund Resources
Andrew Peck's perspective on mid-cap investing
Latest Fact Sheets
Daily Price (NAV)
Prices for May 16 , 2012(BARIX)
| NAV | $49.54 |
|---|---|
| Daily Change ($) | -$0.16 |
| Daily Change (%) | -0.32% |
| MTD | -6.05% |
| YTD | 7.56% |
| 52-Week High | $62.06 |
| 52-Week Low | $44.39 |
Fund Facts
| Inception Date | June 12, 1987 |
|---|---|
| Net Assets^ | $2.44 billion |
| CUSIP | 068278605 |
| Expense Ratio* | 1.06% |
Risk/Reward Comparison
Ratings/Rankings
Morningstar Ratings
Ratings based on risk-adjusted returns as of 3/31/2012Category: US OE Mid-Cap Growth
| Overall | 3 Stars | out of 662 funds |
| 3 Year | 3 Stars | out of 662 funds |
| 5 Year | 3 Stars | out of 595 funds |
| 10 Year | 3 Stars | out of 424 funds |
The Overall Morningstar Rating for a fund is derived from a weighted-average of the performance figures associated with its three-, five- and (if applicable) ten-year ratings.
Lipper Rankings
Rankings based on total returns as of 3/31/2012Category: Mid-Cap Growth Funds
| 1 Year | 117 out of 391 funds |
Stylebox
Baron Category: Mid-Cap Growth
| Large Value | Large Core | Large Growth | Large |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mid Value | Mid Core | Mid Growth | Mid |
| Small Value | Small Core | Small Growth | Small |
| Value | Core | Growth |
Performance data quoted represents past performance. Past performance is no guarantee of future results. The investment return and principal value of an investment will fluctuate; an investor's shares, when redeemed, may be worth more or less than their original cost. The Fund's transfer agency expenses may be reduced by expense offsets from an unaffiliated transfer agent, without which performance would have been lower. Current performance may be lower or higher than the performance data quoted above. For performance information current to the most recent month end, click here.
The Fund may not achieve its objectives
Performance for the Institutional Shares prior to 5/29/2009, is based on the performance of the Retail Shares, which have a distribution fee. The Institutional Shares do not have a distribution fee. If the annual returns prior to 5/29/2009, did not reflect this fee, the returns would be higher.
^All share classes combined. As of most recent month end.
*As of fiscal year ended 9/30/2011, the expense ratio of the Fund’s Institutional Shares was 1.06%.
The Risk/Return Comparison plots the since inception return of the Fund against the Fund's Standard Deviation for the same time period. Source: FactSet SPAR.
Prior to February 15, 2007, the Fund's strategy was to invest primarily in small and mid-sized growth companies. Since then, the Fund's investment strategy has shifted to mid-sized companies.
Top Ten Fund Holdings based on net assets. Portfolio holdings may change over time.
Industry sector or sub-industry group levels are provided from the Global Industry Classification Standard ("GICS"), developed and exclusively owned by MSCI, Inc. ("MSCI") and Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC ("S&P"), unless otherwise stated that they have been reclassified or classified by the Adviser. All GICS data is provided "as is" with no warranties.
For each fund with at least a three-year history, Morningstar calculates a Morningstar Rating based on a Morningstar Risk-Adjusted Return measure that accounts for variation in a fund's monthly performance (including the effects of sales charges, loads, and redemption fees), placing more emphasis on downward variations and rewarding consistent performance. The top 10% of funds in each category receive 5 stars, the next 22.5% receive 4 stars, the next 35% receive 3 stars, the next 22.5% receive 2 stars and the bottom 10% receive 1 star. (Each share class is counted as a fraction of one fund within this scale and rated separately, which may cause slight variations in the distribution percentages.)© 2012 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Morningstar information contained herein: (1) is proprietary to Morningstar and/or its content providers; (2) may not be copied or distributed; and (3) is not warranted to be accurate, complete or timely. Neither Morningstar nor its content providers are responsible for any damages or losses arising from any use of this information.
Lipper Analytical Services, Inc. rankings and fund performance do not reflect sales charges and are based on total return, including reinvestment of dividends and capital gains for the stated periods.
Performance Based Characteristics are based on trailing five-year and since-inception periods. Performance statistics for additional periods will be provided on request. Source: FactSet SPAR.
Definitions (provided by Baron Capital, Inc.): The Russell Midcap Growth Index and S&P 500 Index are unmanaged indexes. The Russell Midcap Growth Index measures the performance of mid-sized companies that are classified as growth. The S&P 500 Index measures the performance of larger cap equities in the stock market in general. The indexes and the Baron Asset Fund are with dividends, the inclusion of which positively impacts the performance results. Standard Deviation (Annualized): measures the degree to which a fund’s performance has varied from its average performance over a particular time period. The greater the standard deviation, the greater a fund’s volatility (risk). Sharpe Ratio: is a risk-adjusted performance statistic that measures reward per unit of risk. The higher the Sharpe ratio, the better a fund’s risk adjusted performance. Alpha: measures the difference between a fund’s actual returns and its expected performance, given its level of risk as measured by beta. Beta: measures a fund’s sensitivity to market movements. The beta of the market (Russell Midcap Growth) is 1.00 by definition. R-Squared: measures how closely a fund’s performance correlates to the performance of the benchmark index (Russell Midcap Growth Index), and thus is a measurement of what portion of its performance can be explained by the performance of the index. Values for R-Squared range from 0 to 100, where 0 indicates no correlation and 100 indicates perfect correlation. Tracking Error: measures how closely a fund’s return follows the benchmark index returns (Russell Midcap Growth Index). It is calculated as the annualized standard deviation of the difference between the fund and the index returns. Information Ratio: measures the excess return of a fund divided by the amount of risk the fund takes relative to the benchmark index (Russell Midcap Growth Index). The higher the information ratio, the higher the excess return expected of the fund, given the amount of risk involved. Upside Capture %: explains how well a fund performs in time periods where the benchmark’s returns (Russell Midcap Growth Index) are greater than zero. Downside Capture %: explains how well a fund performs in time periods where the benchmark’s returns (Russell Midcap Growth Index) are less than zero.