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Baron Durable Advantage Fund

Symbol BDAFXCUSIP: 068278779
Symbol BDAFXCUSIP: 068278779
L
Large-Cap Growth

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$25.83

Daily Change $0.35 (1.37%)
As of 07/26/2024

Net Assets

$424.30 M

As of 06/30/2024

Morningstar Rating™

As of 06/30/2024

Morningstar Medalist Rating™

medal Logo

SILVER

Inception date

12/29/2017

Prices & Performance

PricesAs of 07/26/2024

NAVDaily Change ($)Daily Change (%)MTDQTDYTD
$25.83$0.351.37%-0.42%-0.42%16.04%
NAV$25.83
Daily Change ($)$0.35
Daily Change (%)1.37%
MTD-0.42%
QTD-0.42%
YTD16.04%

PerformanceAs of 06/30/2024

YTD11 Year3 Years5 YearsSince Inception
12/29/2017
BDAFX - Baron Durable Advantage Fund16.53%31.81%12.83%17.94%15.94%
S&P 500 Index15.29%24.56%10.01%15.05%13.55%

Performance InformationAs of 06/30/2024

3 Years5 YearsSince Inception
Standard Deviation (%)19.7718.9718.31
Sharpe Ratio0.490.830.75
Alpha (%)2.202.562.27
Beta1.061.011.00
R-Squared (%)92.5492.4392.61
Tracking Error (%)5.535.224.98
Information Ratio0.510.550.48
Upside Capture (%)112.49106.67104.44
Downside Capture (%)105.8898.5096.59
Source: FactSet SPAR. Except for Standard Deviation and Sharpe Ratio, the performance based characteristics above were calculated relative to the Fund's benchmark.

Risk & Return06/30/2019 - 06/30/2024

1 Source: FactSet SPAR.

Portfolio Holdings & Characteristics

HoldingsAs of 06/30/2024

HoldingSector% of Net Assets
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.
Microsoft is led by Satya Nadella, who has refocused the company on cloud computing and AI. He has been quite successful thus far, with Microsoft's commercial cloud business now representing over 56% of revenue and growing around 25% year-on-year. Microsoft's moat is based on the wide reach of its sales channel, its diverse platform of software offerings, hybrid cloud capabilities, and the high costs of switching away from its solutions, which tend to be critical for its customers. We believe Microsoft will benefit from the growing adoption of cloud for years to come.
Information Technology9.3%
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.
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. With Amazon Web Services as a large, growing part of the business, we also believe Amazon represents a unique opportunity to invest in the secular growth of cloud computing.
Consumer Discretionary6.9%
Meta Platforms, Inc.
Meta Platforms, Inc. (META) owns Facebook, the world's largest social network, with over 3.0 billion monthly and over 2.1 billion daily active users. Instagram, Messenger, WhatsApp, and Oculus are also part of the Meta Platforms network, with over 3.9 billion total monthly unique users across Meta products.
Meta owns unique social platforms with users that continue to demonstrate stickiness and high engagement. Advertisers want to be where users are, and Meta's ability to analyze, target, and show clear, demonstrable, and rising returns on investment makes the platform particularly attractive to them. We believe the company is still in the middle innings of monetizing its vast customer base, especially internationally. In addition, we see significant positive optionality from monetization opportunities in short-form video, WhatsApp, and generative AI features.
Communication Services6.8%
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 Technology4.9%
Alphabet Inc.
Alphabet Inc. (GOOG) is the parent of Google, the world's most dominant online search provider. Other services and products include display advertising, Android, Chrome, Google Cloud, Google Maps, Google Play, and YouTube. Its Other Bets segment consists of businesses such as CapitalG, Waymo, and Verily.
Alphabet has been the largest beneficiary of a secular shift in advertising from all other media to online and mobile. Alphabet has processed and indexed more data than any other company, and its leadership position in artificial intelligence allows it to leverage its large datasets to quickly improve its products. Subsidiaries Google Cloud and YouTube give Alphabet exposure to the secular shifts to cloud computing and connected TV. Alphabet has tremendous scale, distribution, and talent. We monitor the ongoing potential disruption of generative AI to core search.
Communication Services4.8%
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.
Taiwan Semi (TSMC) remains 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 Technology4.4%
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. The rest of its semis portfolio should grow at mid-single digits, while its legacy software offerings should grow at low-single digits as the company focuses on cost efficiencies, cross-selling, and servicing key enterprise accounts. We think recent acquisition VMWare will grow faster post-purchase due to Broadcom's product simplification and SaaS conversion strategy. Broadcom has strong margins and cash flow, which it returns to shareholders.
Information Technology4.1%
S&P Global Inc.
S&P Global Inc. (SPGI) provides credit ratings, indices, data, and analytics to the financial, transportation, and commodities markets.
S&P Global benefits from the secular growth of rated bond issuance, the ongoing shift from active to passive investing, and growing demand for data and analytics. The company operates in oligopoly markets, where it enjoys formidable competitive advantages. We expect to see a recovery in rated bond issuance as interest rates stabilize, alongside ongoing benefits from S&P Global’s 2022 merger with IHS Markit. Excess cash flow is being used for accretive acquisitions and is being returned to shareholders through share repurchases and dividends.
Financials3.9%
Visa Inc.
Visa Inc. (V) is a leading global payment network. The company authorizes and facilitates electronic payments for consumers, merchants, and banks.
Visa benefits from consumer spending growth and the secular shift from cash to electronic payments. Most of its revenue comes from international markets, where consumer spending and the adoption rate of electronic payments are rising quickly. The company generates significant free cash flow, which is being returned to shareholders through dividends and share repurchases. We believe Visa enjoys high barriers to entry given its well-established brand, ubiquitous merchant acceptance network, and extensive banking relationships.
Financials3.6%
Adobe Inc.
Adobe Systems Incorporated (ADBE) is a leading software company targeting two main markets: Digital Media and Digital Experience. Adobe offers its creative and document cloud solutions for the digital media market and its marketing, advertising, and analytics cloud solutions for the digital experience market.
Adobe's transition to the cloud has been one of the most successful in the history of the software industry, enabling the company to reaccelerate growth, increase customer retention, and strengthen its competitive moat. Adobe is the leader in creative cloud, and its platform has become the industry standard. Its digital experience offering is also the most comprehensive platform, offering solutions from marketing and analytics to commerce creating the experience system of record. 
Information Technology3.2%
Total
Total
52.0%
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 Corporation4.51%1.48%
Alphabet Inc.4.86%0.95%
Broadcom Inc.2.86%0.74%
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited2.93%0.74%
Microsoft Corporation9.07%0.55%
Source: FactSet PA.

GICS Sector BreakdownAs of 06/30/2024

Portfolio Characteristics

Information Technology

33.9%

Financials

29.3%

Communication Services

11.6%

Health Care

10.6%

Consumer Discretionary

6.9%

Industrials

2.6%

Real Estate

2.1%

Consumer Staples

1.5%

Cash & Cash Equivalents

1.4%

Sub-Industry
06/30/2024
Semiconductors16.50%
Interactive Media & Services11.60%
Financial Exchanges & Data10.70%
Systems Software9.30%
Life Sciences Tools & Services7.90%
Broadline Retail 6.90%
Application Software6.20%
Transaction & Payment Processing Services 6.10%
Asset Management & Custody Banks5.20%
Diversified Financial Services 3.10%
Managed Health Care2.70%
Aerospace & Defense2.60%
Investment Banking & Brokerage2.10%
Property & Casualty Insurance2.10%
Real Estate Services 2.10%
0369121518
Semiconductors16.50%
Interactive Media & Services11.60%
Financial Exchanges & Data10.70%
Systems Software9.30%
Life Sciences Tools & Services7.90%
Broadline Retail 6.90%
Application Software6.20%
Transaction & Payment Processing Services 6.10%
Asset Management & Custody Banks5.20%
Diversified Financial Services 3.10%
Managed Health Care2.70%
Aerospace & Defense2.60%
Investment Banking & Brokerage2.10%
Property & Casualty Insurance2.10%
Real Estate Services 2.10%
0369121518

Portfolio CharacteristicsAs of 06/30/2024

Baron Durable Advantage FundS&P 500 Index
Inception DateDecember 29, 2017
Net Assets$424.30 million
# of Issuers / % of Net Assets32 / 98.6%
Turnover (3 Year Average)16.33%
Active Share68.3%
Median Market Cap$180.42 billion$34.83 billion
Weighted Average Market Cap$974.64 billion$1.01 trillion
Gross Expense Ratio1.40%
Net Expense Ratio0.95%
EPS Growth (3-5 year forecast)17.0%16.2%
Price/Earnings Ratio (trailing 12-month)33.325.8
Price/Book Ratio6.63.8
Price/Sales Ratio4.52.6
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
12/06/202312/07/202312/08/2023$0.0004$0.0000$0.0000$0.0000$0.0004$21.34
11/22/202111/23/202111/24/2021$0.0000$0.0000$0.0000$0.0605$0.0605$20.0631.79%
07/28/202107/29/202107/30/2021$0.0079$0.0000$0.0000$0.0000$0.0079$18.9631.79%
07/29/202007/30/202007/31/2020$0.0182$0.0000$0.0000$0.0000$0.0182$14.0220.11%
11/28/201811/29/201811/30/2018$0.0346$0.0000$0.0000$0.0000$0.0346$9.89-7.48%
For estimated distributions, visit the Tax Center
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Investor Series

Baron Durable Advantage Fund: A Unique Approach to Large-Cap Core Investing

According to the conventional wisdom, large-cap stocks are the place to go for value-oriented passive investing. These companies have already reached their growth potential, the thinking goes, and the efficiency and transparency of this asset category makes it tough for active managers to beat the benchmark. 

We have never followed the conventional wisdom. On the contrary, we believe there are significant opportunities for the selective investor who eschews the conventional wisdom to analyze large caps with a fresh and unbiased eye.