| ANNUALIZED SINCE INCEPTION | QUARTERLY | YTD |
|---|---|---|
| 11.72% | 11.9% | 26.4% |
Baron Global Advantage Fund delivered strong Q4 performance with an 11.9% return, finishing 2024 up 26.4% and outperforming benchmarks by 893bps for the year. The fund's outperformance was driven by stock selection in Information Technology, where 12 of 16 holdings posted double-digit gains, led by Shopify, Cloudflare, and NVIDIA. SpaceX, the fund's largest position at 10.3%, contributed significantly following a revaluation. Manager Alex Umansky views the portfolio as well-positioned for the AI transformation, comparing it to the internet revolution of the 1990s. The fund maintains a concentrated approach with top 10 positions representing 61.2% of assets and significant international exposure at 53.4%. Despite headwinds from being underweight U.S. giant-cap stocks, fundamentals drove over 100% of 2024 performance as multiples declined 1.5%. Looking ahead, Umansky expects AI to create multi-trillion dollar opportunities across industries, with portfolio companies like NVIDIA at the epicenter and platforms like Shopify positioned to benefit from AI-enabled business transformation.
The fund invests in high-quality global growth companies positioned to benefit from transformative technological changes, particularly AI, while maintaining a concentrated portfolio of businesses with strong competitive advantages and long-term growth runways.
Manager is excited about the early stages of AI transformation, comparing it to the internet revolution of the 1990s. Believes AI will drive multi-trillion dollar industry transformation. Expects continued improvement in business fundamentals across portfolio companies. Remains optimistic about long-term prospects while acknowledging near-term uncertainties around deglobalization and inflation.
| Date | Letter | Tickers | Keywords | Pitches | Quick Takes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mar 31 2026 | 2026 Q1 | ARGX, ASML, BAJFINANCE.NS, BILL, CDRE, CPNG, CRWD, DDOG, ENDV, GDS, INDI, INPST.L, MELI, NET, NVDA, RIVN, SHOP, SNOW, TSLA, TTAN, WIX, ZOMATO.NS, ZS | AI, E-Commerce, global, growth, Robotics, semiconductors, Space, technology | - | Baron Global Advantage delivered 26.4% returns in 2024, outperforming benchmarks through concentrated bets on AI transformation leaders. With SpaceX as the largest holding and strong positions in Shopify, NVIDIA, and Cloudflare, the fund is positioned for the multi-trillion dollar AI revolution that manager Alex Umansky compares to the internet's early days. |
| Aug 2 2025 | 2025 Q2 | ARGX, BILL, CPNG, CRWD, DDOG, ENDV, GLOB, ILMN, LOAR, MELI, NET, NU, NVDA, PDD, SHOP, SNOW, TSLA, TSM, TTAN, ZS | AI, E-Commerce, global, growth, semiconductors, technology, volatility | - | Strong Q2 performance driven by AI infrastructure recovery and Latin American growth stories. NVIDIA, Cloudflare, and MELI led gains despite earlier drawdowns. New positions in Nu Holdings and Loar Holdings expand exposure to digital banking disruption and aerospace aftermarket. Extreme volatility expected but maintaining long-term focus on quality businesses with sustainable competitive advantages. |
| Mar 31 2025 | 2025 Q1 | 532978.BO, AFYA, ARGX, CPNG, DDOG, GLOB, MELI, NET, NVDA, PDD, SAIL, SHOP, SNOW, SQ, TSLA, TSM, WIX, ZOMATO.NS, ZS | AI, cybersecurity, E-Commerce, global, growth, semiconductors, tariffs, technology | - | Fund declined 9.4% due to tariff-driven volatility, with underperformance from tech overweight and multiple contraction despite stable fundamentals. Manager maintains AI conviction as biggest career opportunity while building positions in quality platforms with limited tariff exposure. Portfolio companies well-positioned to weather uncertainty through strong competitive moats and balance sheets. |
| Dec 31 2024 | 2024 Q4 | ARGX, ASML, BAJFINANCE.NS, BILL, CPNG, CRWD, DDOG, ENDV.L, INDI, MELI, NET, NVDA, RIVN, SHOP.TO, SNOW, TSLA, TTAN, WIX, ZOMATO.NS, ZS | AI, Cloud, E-Commerce, global, growth, Robotics, semiconductors, technology | - | Baron Global Advantage Fund gained 26.4% in 2024, outperforming benchmarks through strong stock selection in AI-enabled businesses and global e-commerce platforms. Despite market headwinds favoring U.S. giant-cap stocks, the fund's focus on fundamental growth drivers and positioning around transformative AI disruption delivered solid results. Manager remains optimistic about long-term prospects while acknowledging near-term deglobalization and inflation risks. |
| Sep 30 2024 | 2024 Q3 | - | - | - | |
| Jun 30 2024 | 2024 Q2 | ADYEN.AS, ALAB, ARGX, ASML, CPNG, CRWD, DAVA, DDOG, FVRR, GLOB, INDI, MELI, NET, NVDA, RIVN, SHOP, SNOW, TMP, TSLA, WIX | AI, global, growth, healthcare, semiconductors, software, technology |
NVDA CRWD CPNG SHOP NET TXG |
Baron Global Advantage Fund outperformed in Q2 2024 despite underweight positioning in Magnificent Seven stocks. NVIDIA drove returns with 36.8% gain on unprecedented AI-driven growth. Software holdings faced multiple contraction during investment cycles. Fund initiated Tempus AI position, combining AI with healthcare diagnostics. Manager remains focused on quality businesses with sustainable advantages positioned for AI paradigm shift. |
| Mar 31 2024 | 2024 Q1 | ADYEN.AS, ALAB, ARGX, ASML, BJFN.NS, CPNG, CRWD, ENDV, INDI, MELI, NET, NVDA, RIVN, SDGR, SHOP, SNOW, TSLA, VKTX, ZOMATO.NS, ZS | AI, cybersecurity, Electric Vehicles, global, growth, innovation, semiconductors, technology |
NVDA VKTX ALAB |
Baron Global Advantage gained 3.6% in Q1, led by NVIDIA's 83% surge on AI momentum. The fund sees generative AI as a multi-decade disruption with NVIDIA as the platform leader. Cyclical headwinds hit IT services and EV holdings hard. New positions include obesity drug developer Viking Therapeutics and semiconductor companies. Manager maintains long-term conviction despite near-term volatility. |
| Dec 31 2023 | 2023 Q4 | 3690.HK, AAPL, ADYEN, AMZN, ARGX, ASML, BILL, BJFNF, CPNG, CRWD, DAVA, DDOG, EPAM, FVRR, GLOB, GOOGL, INPST, MELI, META, MSFT, NET, NVDA, SHOP, SNOW, SQ, TSLA, WIX, ZI, ZS | AI, Cloud, cybersecurity, Digitization, E-Commerce, global, growth, technology | - | Baron Global Advantage Fund posted strong 25.6% annual returns despite private investment headwinds, led by AI and e-commerce winners like Shopify and MercadoLibre. The fund eliminated China exposure and concentrated into 34 high-conviction positions benefiting from GenAI adoption, platform consolidation, and improving unit economics. Management remains optimistic on long-term secular trends while maintaining disciplined valuation approach. |
| Sep 30 2023 | 2023 Q3 | ADYEN.AS, ARGX, BAJFINANCE.NS, CPNG, CRWD, DAVA, DDOG, FVRR, MELI, NET, NVDA, RIVN, SDGR, SHOP, SNOW, TSLA, VEEV, WIX, ZI | AI, Biotechnology, E-Commerce, global, growth, small caps, technology |
CPNG VTWIX |
Baron Global Advantage Fund's 6.1% Q3 decline reflected multiple contraction in small/mid-caps despite improving fundamentals. The manager increased exposure to attractively valued smaller companies while mega-caps dominated market returns. NVIDIA's AI-driven growth and improving portfolio fundamentals support the long-term thesis, though near-term volatility from higher rates persists. |
| QUARTER | THEMES | TAGS |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 Q1 |
AIManager views AI as one of the biggest disruptive changes in human history, comparing it to electricity and the internet. Believes AI model intelligence is improving rapidly through multiple vectors including scaling laws, synthetic data, and inference-time scaling. Owns portfolio companies positioned to benefit from AI transformation including NVIDIA at the epicenter and platforms like Shopify that can utilize AI. |
Artificial Intelligence Machine Learning Automation Disruption Technology |
E-commerceFund holds significant positions in global e-commerce platforms including Shopify, MercadoLibre, and Coupang. Views these as beneficiaries of secular growth trends in digital commerce, with companies continuing to gain market share and expand into new verticals like B2B and international markets. |
Digital Commerce Online Retail Marketplaces Platforms Growth | |
SemiconductorsPortfolio includes exposure to semiconductor companies like NVIDIA and ASML. Manager believes growing demand for AI chips will support long-term growth for the industry despite near-term cyclical concerns. Views ASML's monopoly position in critical lithography tools as providing strong competitive advantages. |
Chips Hardware Technology Manufacturing Equipment | |
CloudHolds infrastructure software platforms like Datadog and Cloudflare that use AI on proprietary data to improve offerings. These companies benefit from the modernization of networking infrastructure and provide enhanced security and performance for digital services. |
Infrastructure Software Services Platforms Technology | |
SpaceSpaceX is the fund's largest position at 10.3% of assets. Manager highlights the company's progress in Starlink broadband service expansion, cost-effective reusable launch technology, and development of the Starship rocket as the largest most powerful rocket ever flown. |
Aerospace Satellites Launch Technology Innovation | |
RoboticsManager sees promising progress in robotics with examples like Waymo achieving 22% market share in San Francisco and Tesla showing Optimus robots. Believes Tesla's progress in autonomous driving and humanoids creates significant opportunities for business model inflection. |
Automation Autonomous Technology Innovation Transportation | |
| 2025 Q2 |
AIAI infrastructure buildout is durable with NVIDIA maintaining leadership. Scaling laws have expanded beyond pre-training to post-training and test-time scaling, driving GPU demand. AI workloads will be supported by large language models in datacenters, unlocking trillions in value across intelligence-bottlenecked industries. |
GPUs Infrastructure Scaling Inference Datacenters |
E-commerceLatin American e-commerce shows strong growth with MELI gaining market share. Argentina's economic improvement benefits the largest player with 65% market share. E-commerce penetration remains low in mid-teens with significant runway for growth. |
Latin America Penetration Market Share Argentina Growth | |
CloudCloud infrastructure companies like Cloudflare and Datadog show strong fundamentals despite stock volatility. Edge computing and AI inferencing drive demand for distributed cloud services. Enterprise adoption accelerating with million-dollar contracts becoming more common. |
Edge Computing Enterprise Infrastructure Performance Security | |
SemiconductorsTSMC benefits from AI proliferation across industries as the ultimate arms dealer regardless of GPU vs ASIC market share split. Leading-edge semiconductor manufacturing positioning remains unmatched despite near-term tariff uncertainty. |
Manufacturing Leading Edge AI Foundries Technology | |
FinTechDigital banking disruption in Latin America led by Nu Holdings with over 100 million users. Structural under-penetration of financial services creates long runway with credit card penetration only 35% in Brazil versus 70% in developed markets. |
Digital Banking Latin America Penetration Credit Disruption | |
| 2025 Q1 |
AIAI represents the biggest disruptive change in the manager's career. Models continue to improve on the intelligence curve while costs decline, opening new markets and opportunities. NVIDIA's progress across hardware and software remains unmatched, with reasoning models requiring 100x more compute than previously thought. |
Artificial Intelligence Machine Learning Compute GPUs Deep Learning |
Trade PolicyTariff uncertainty created significant market volatility and drove the Fund's underperformance. The administration's disruptive approach creates instability and chaos, though the manager acknowledges the trade deficit problem needs addressing as articulated by Warren Buffett. |
Tariffs Trade War Import Certificates Trade Deficit Economic Policy | |
SemiconductorsTSMC's competitive positioning in leading-edge semiconductor manufacturing remains unmatched despite near-term tariff uncertainty. The company will benefit from long-duration growth as AI adoption proliferates across industries. |
Foundries Chip Manufacturing Leading Edge Process Technology Semiconductor Cycle | |
E-commerceMercadoLibre continues strong growth with 56% year-over-year GMV growth and 49% growth in Total Payments Volume, capturing leading share of structural growth opportunity in Latin America. Shopify maintains strong positioning despite cyclical headwinds. |
Online Retail Digital Commerce Marketplaces GMV Payments | |
CybersecuritySailPoint represents a new investment in identity governance and administration software. The company has a sticky customer base with 97% gross retention rates and multiple growth levers including cloud migration and cross-selling opportunities. |
Identity Management Security Software IGA Cloud Migration Enterprise Security | |
CloudCloudflare's edge network and expanding platform enable durable growth of 25% year-over-year. The company's unique ability to run all cloud products on every server enables margin expansion as incremental product adoption costs approach zero. |
Edge Computing CDN Platform SaaS Network Infrastructure | |
| 2024 Q4 |
AIThe fund views AI as one of the biggest disruptive changes in human history, comparing it to the early internet era. AI model intelligence is improving rapidly through multiple vectors including scaling laws, multiple modalities, synthetic data, post-training techniques, and inference-time scaling. The fund owns businesses positioned to benefit from this paradigm shift including NVIDIA at the epicenter and platforms like Shopify that can utilize AI to help merchants. |
Machine Learning Neural Networks Automation Data Analytics Computing |
E-commerceThe fund holds significant positions in global e-commerce platforms including Shopify, MercadoLibre, and Coupang. These companies are benefiting from continued market share gains and expansion into new verticals like B2B commerce. The fund sees long-term growth tied to secular e-commerce adoption and financial services penetration across different regions. |
Digital Commerce Online Retail Marketplaces Payments Logistics | |
SemiconductorsThe fund maintains exposure to the semiconductor industry through NVIDIA and ASML, viewing them as critical enablers of AI advancement. Despite near-term cyclical challenges and geopolitical concerns around Chinese demand, the fund believes growing demand for AI chips and increasing chip complexity will drive long-term growth for leading semiconductor companies. |
Chip Design Manufacturing AI Chips Lithography Memory | |
CloudThe fund invests in cloud infrastructure and software companies like Cloudflare and Datadog that are using AI on proprietary data to improve their offerings. These platforms benefit from companies modernizing their networking infrastructure and the continued migration to cloud-based solutions. |
Infrastructure SaaS Data Centers Networking Software | |
RoboticsThe fund sees promising progress in robotics with examples like Waymo achieving significant market share in San Francisco and Tesla demonstrating humanoid robots. The fund believes Tesla's progress in robotics, both autonomous driving and humanoids, creates significant opportunities for the business model to inflect positively. |
Automation Autonomous Vehicles Manufacturing AI Hardware | |
| 2024 Q2 |
AIThe fund views AI as driving a new industrial revolution, with NVIDIA positioned as the AI generator creating tokens for every industry. The manager believes we remain early in AI adoption across industries and the race for Artificial General Intelligence continues with exponential demand growth for accelerated computing. |
Artificial Intelligence Machine Learning Accelerated Computing GenAI AGI |
SemiconductorsNVIDIA continues unprecedented growth with quarterly revenues of $26 billion growing 262% year-over-year. The Blackwell architecture represents the next product cycle with GB200 racks becoming the new unit of compute, strengthening competitive advantages as datacenter-scale computing demand grows. |
GPUs Chip Design Foundries Memory Processing | |
E-commerceCoupang showed strong performance with 33% revenue growth and continued market share gains in Korean e-commerce. The fund sees significant runway for growth as companies gain market share and expand internationally while investing in infrastructure density. |
Online Retail Marketplaces Digital Commerce Logistics Platform | |
CybersecurityCrowdStrike demonstrated strong execution with 33% revenue growth and 35% free cash flow margins. The company is gaining share in endpoint detection and response while emerging products reach material scale, benefiting from growing threat landscape driven by AI advancements. |
Endpoint Security Threat Detection Cloud Security Identity Protection SIEM | |
CloudSoftware companies like Shopify and Snowflake are entering investment cycles to strengthen competitive positioning and drive market share gains. While short-term margins are impacted, the fund believes these investments make sense for long-term growth in cloud-based services. |
SaaS Cloud Infrastructure Platform Services Software Delivery Scalability | |
GenomicsTempus AI represents the convergence of AI and diagnostics, providing cancer treatment selection tests with industry-leading breadth and accuracy. The company has amassed over 200 petabytes of proprietary multimodal dataset combining clinical and genomic data for pharmaceutical R&D. |
Gene Sequencing Precision Medicine Biomarkers Clinical Data Diagnostics | |
| 2024 Q1 |
AIFund views AI as a multi-decade paradigm shift with NVIDIA at the epicenter. GenAI is showing rapid real-world adoption with revenues exceeding $3 billion. The manager believes AI will drive productivity gains and technological breakthroughs across industries from drug discovery to autonomous machines. |
GenAI LLMs GPUs Platform Productivity |
SemiconductorsNVIDIA's dominance in AI chips drives significant performance improvements through full-stack innovation from GPUs to software. The fund sees accelerating demand for AI-specific semiconductors despite cyclical industry concerns. |
GPUs Blackwell NVLink Foundries AI Chips | |
Electric VehiclesEV holdings Tesla and Rivian faced headwinds from production challenges, competitive pressures in China, and demand uncertainty. Despite near-term volatility, the fund maintains conviction in long-term EV market expansion and autonomous driving potential. |
Tesla Rivian Cybertruck Autonomous EV Market | |
CybersecurityCrowdStrike delivered strong results with accelerating market share gains in endpoint detection and emerging products scaling to $850 million ARR. The growing threat landscape driven by AI advancements supports continued growth. |
Endpoint EDR SIEM Threat Intelligence Cloud Security | |
| 2023 Q4 |
AIGenAI is creating an inflection point that benefits many portfolio companies beyond just NVIDIA. Enterprises are accelerating digitization trends to benefit from GenAI, with less than 10% of companies having mature data and AI capabilities. This trend should be a tailwind for businesses that enable or benefit from digitization such as cybersecurity, infrastructure monitoring, and data platforms. |
GenAI Digitization Data Enterprise Transformation |
CloudCloud infrastructure and software companies in the portfolio are benefiting from customer consolidation trends and rising win rates against competitors. Companies like Datadog are seeing customers consolidate multiple tool providers onto their platform, while Cloudflare is becoming the single vendor for comprehensive security solutions. |
Infrastructure Platform Consolidation SaaS Enterprise | |
E-commerceE-commerce platforms like Shopify and MercadoLibre are showing strong performance with improving unit economics and market share gains. Shopify demonstrated 124.5% annual returns with 22% GMV growth and expanding margins, while MercadoLibre posted 85.7% annual returns with 59% constant-currency GMV growth and significant margin expansion. |
GMV Platforms Merchants Digital Commerce | |
CybersecurityCybersecurity companies are benefiting from GenAI trends as enterprises accelerate digitization efforts. CrowdStrike is expected to increase operating margins from 15.9% to 20.8% while benefiting from the broader digital transformation and security consolidation trends. |
Security Platform Enterprise Digital Protection | |
| 2023 Q3 |
AINVIDIA continues to exceed projections with 94% revenue growth and 192% EPS growth expected for 2023, driven by accelerating demand for Generative AI. The company raised guidance multiple times during the quarter, demonstrating the strength of AI adoption across industries. |
NVIDIA Generative AI GPUs Data Centers Machine Learning |
E-commerceCoupang demonstrates strong market leadership in Korea with 25% market share and 99.8% next-day delivery. The company is expanding profitability while investing in automation and reducing reliance on distributors. Shopify continues benefiting from its commerce operating system position despite near-term consumer concerns. |
Coupang Shopify Online Retail Logistics Marketplaces | |
Electric VehiclesRivian showed improving unit economics through increased production rates, better cost absorption, and renegotiated supplier agreements. The company expects continued profitability progress as it scales production and prepares to launch its smaller R2 SUV in early 2024. |
Rivian EV Manufacturing Battery Technology Production Scaling | |
BiotechnologyArgenx achieved positive Phase 3 trial results for CIDP, representing billions in potential sales. The strong Vyvgart launch exceeded consensus expectations with multiple upcoming catalysts including readouts in pemphigus vulgaris and other autoimmune disorders. |
Argenx Autoimmune Clinical Trials Drug Development | |
CloudCloudflare shows signs of stabilization with record pipeline generation and improving deal close rates despite macro headwinds. The company benefits from customers consolidating spending on its platform due to high gross margins and differentiated offerings. |
Cloudflare Infrastructure Networking SaaS | |
PaymentsAdyen faced significant challenges with decelerating growth and increased competitive pressure in North America, leading to a 59% stock decline. While the company maintains market share gains, it lost wallet share with large merchants to lower-priced competitors. |
Adyen Payment Processing Fintech Competition |
| Date | Pitch Type | Author | Ticker | Company | Industry | Sub Industry | Bull / Bear | Exchange | Keywords | Action |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jun 30, 2024 | Fund Letters | Baron Global Advantage Fund | SHOP | Shopify Inc. | Information Technology | Software | Bull | NYSE | e-commerce, growth, International, Multi-channel Commerce, platform, SaaS, Software | Login |
| Jun 30, 2024 | Fund Letters | Baron Global Advantage Fund | CPNG | Coupang, Inc. | Consumer Discretionary | Internet & Direct Marketing Retail | Bull | NYSE | Consumer Discretionary, e-commerce, growth, infrastructure, Korea, marketplace, retail | Login |
| Jun 30, 2024 | Fund Letters | Baron Global Advantage Fund | NET | Cloudflare, Inc. | Information Technology | Software | Bull | NYSE | cloud, content delivery network, cybersecurity, founder-led, Global network, Multi-product, Software | Login |
| Jun 30, 2024 | Fund Letters | Baron Global Advantage Fund | NVDA | NVIDIA Corporation | Information Technology | Semiconductors & Semiconductor Equipment | Bull | NASDAQ | Accelerated Computing, AI, datacenter, Gaming, GPUs, growth, semiconductors, technology | Login |
| Jun 30, 2024 | Fund Letters | Baron Global Advantage Fund | TXG | Tempus AI, Inc. | Health Care | Health Care Technology | Bull | NASDAQ | AI, Biotech, Cancer, Data, diagnostics, Genomics, healthcare, Precision-medicine | Login |
| Jun 30, 2024 | Fund Letters | Baron Global Advantage Fund | CRWD | CrowdStrike Holdings, Inc. | Information Technology | Software | Bull | NASDAQ | AI, cloud, cybersecurity, Endpoint Security, growth, platform, SaaS, Software | Login |
| Mar 31, 2024 | Fund Letters | Baron Global Advantage Fund | ALAB | Astera Labs, Inc. | Information Technology | Semiconductors & Semiconductor Equipment | Bull | NASDAQ | AI infrastructure, Bandwidth, Connectivity, data center, Fabless Semiconductor, First Mover, growth, hyperscale, PCIe Retimers, Signal integrity | Login |
| Mar 31, 2024 | Fund Letters | Baron Global Advantage Fund | VKTX | Viking Therapeutics, Inc. | Health Care | Biotechnology | Bull | NASDAQ | biotechnology, Diabetes, drug development, GLP-1, Large Addressable Market, MASH, Metabolic Disease, Obesity, Primary Care | Login |
| Mar 31, 2024 | Fund Letters | Baron Global Advantage Fund | NVDA | NVIDIA Corporation | Information Technology | Semiconductors & Semiconductor Equipment | Bull | NASDAQ | Artificial Intelligence, Cloud computing, data center, Full-stack, generative AI, Gpu, growth, platform, semiconductors, vertical integration | Login |
| Sep 30, 2023 | Fund Letters | Baron Global Advantage Fund | VTWIX | Wix.com Ltd. | Information Technology | Application Software | Bull | NASDAQ | AI, Cloud software, FCF margins, Partners segment, profitability, SaaS, small business, Website builder | Login |
| Sep 30, 2023 | Fund Letters | Baron Global Advantage Fund | CPNG | Coupang, Inc. | Consumer Discretionary | Internet & Direct Marketing Retail | Bull | NYSE | Automation, e-commerce, Fulfillment, growth, Logistics, market share, Next-day delivery, South Korea | Login |
| TICKER | COMMENTARY |
|---|---|
| SHOP | Shopify Inc. is a cloud-based software provider for multi-channel commerce. Shares rose 33.0% in the fourth quarter, finishing 2024 up 36.8% on strong financial results, including year-over-year revenue growth of 26% thanks to continued market share gains with gross merchandise value growth of 24%. Shopify reported continued success in its original online commerce segment while also expanding into offline, international, and business-to-business (B2B), which grew 27%, 30%, and 145%, respectively. Operating margins of 18% came in 240bps above expectations. While the company again guided for an accelerated pace of reinvestments into the business, which will limit short-term margin expansion, we believe this is the correct long-term strategy, as Shopify is taking advantage of its continuously improving product set and maturing go-to-market, in order to further expand its addressable market, targeting international merchants, offline and B2B retailers and going up market. We remain shareholders due to Shopify's strong competitive positioning, innovative culture, and long runway for growth, as it still holds less than a 2% share of the global commerce market. |
| NET | Cloudflare, Inc. offers enhanced security and performance for websites, apps, and software as a service. Shares increased 33.1% during the quarter and finished 2024 up 29.9% on solid quarterly results with 28% year-on-year revenue growth and 14.8% non-GAAP operating margins, which increased 210bps year-on-year. A double-digit year-on-year increase in sales productivity has started to benefit EMEA and APAC growth rates, although North American growth, where sales headcount cuts were deeper, was still softer. Large and total customer additions were robust and the remaining performance obligations were well ahead of expectations up 39%. In addition, the company announced the hiring of CJ Desai, a well-regarded executive who helped build ServiceNow into one of the best software businesses of all time, as President of Product & Engineering. We retain conviction in Cloudflare given its visionary management team, disruptive business model, and stacking S curves or markets that it can address with its platform as it helps companies modernize their networking infrastructure. |
| NVDA | NVIDIA Corporation contributed 1.26% to quarterly returns and was among the top contributors for the year. Shares of NVIDIA more than doubled in price during 2024. The manager views NVIDIA as being at the epicenter of the AI paradigm shift. |
| BILL | BILL Holdings, Inc. gained over 30% during the quarter and contributed 0.87% to quarterly returns. |
| MELI | MercadoLibre, Inc. is the leading e-commerce marketplace across Latin America. Shares of MercadoLibre declined 17.3% in the quarter (although finished the year up 8.0%) as the company reported weaker-than-expected operating margins, leading to a reduction in near-term earnings expectations. The margin contraction was driven by growth in the credit portfolio (with loan loss provisions accounted ahead of revenue recognition), temporary accounting changes, accruals for long-term incentive plans and investments to expand the company's distribution network. We see these as temporary and necessary to expand MercadoLibre's competitive advantages relative to peers, supporting its growth runway. MercadoLibre is investing in the business, which sacrifices near-term profitability but is the correct strategic decision, in our view. Apart from the margin miss, financial results were strong, with 35% year-on-year revenue growth (+103%) in constant currency), 28% growth in items sold and 34% growth in total payments volume (+73%) in constant currency). We retain conviction in MercadoLibre as an attractive long-term growth story tied to the secular growth of e-commerce and the penetration of financial services across Latin America. |
| ASML | ASML Holding N.V. is a Dutch company that designs and manufactures photolithography equipment for semiconductor manufacturing. While ASML is the leader across all types of lithography, most importantly, it is the only manufacturer of extreme ultra-violet lithography tools, which are critical for the manufacturing of leading-edge chips. Shares fell 15.6% during the fourth quarter (finishing the year down 6.6%) on reduced guidance for 2025 as well as growing investor concerns about the potential impact of U.S. government restrictions on Chinese demand and the possibility of peaking lithography intensity. Despite near-term noise, we believe that the growing demand for chips in general and AI chips in particular will continue to support long-term growth for the wafer fab equipment industry with ASML's competitive positioning remaining unassailable. While lithography as a percentage of capital expenditure may decrease from current levels, the chip layer count requiring lithography will continue to increase, in our view, as chips continue to become more complex. As a monopoly on critical lithography tools supporting an industry with growing demand fueled by the proliferation of AI, we see strong long-term upside for ASML. |
| CPNG | Shares of Coupang, Inc., Korea's largest e-commerce platform, corrected 10.6% in the fourth quarter (even though they finished 2024 up 35.5%). While the company delivered solid quarterly results with 27% year-on-year revenue growth with Farfetch and other initiative losses narrowing significantly, its product commerce EBITDA margin missed expectations due to a temporarily elevated spending on technology and automation. Sluggish domestic consumption in Korea, with the e-commerce market experiencing flattish to negative growth, and political uncertainty stemming from President Yoon's declaration of martial law and subsequent impeachment, further weighed on the stock. Despite these short-term challenges, we maintain a positive outlook on Coupang's long-term market share expansion and margin growth trajectory, and view Coupang as one of the most competitively advantaged e-commerce businesses globally, with significant runway for both revenue and earnings growth. |
| BAJFINANCE.NS | Bajaj Finance Limited detracted 0.49% from quarterly performance as an Indian non-bank financial company that weighed on performance in Financials. |
| ARGX | argenx SE was a standout in Health Care driven by continued strength in shares, contributing over 100bps to absolute returns for the year. |
| DDOG | Datadog, Inc. is described as an infrastructure software platform that uses AI on proprietary data to dramatically improve offerings for customers. |
| ZOMATO.NS | Zomato Limited contributed over 100bps to absolute returns for the year and shares more than doubled in price during 2024. |
| WIX | Wix.com Ltd. contributed over 100bps to absolute returns and was among investments in internet services & infrastructure stocks that contributed 1,226bps of outperformance. |
| TTAN | During the fourth quarter, we participated in the IPO of ServiceTitan, Inc., a leading business management software platform for the trades (e.g., plumbers, HVAC technicians). The platform serves as a system of record offering clients nearly everything they need to run their business including customer relationship management, field service management, enterprise resource planning, human capital management, and fintech. ServiceTitan operates in a large and under-digitized market. In the U.S. & Canada alone, the trades represent a $1.5 trillion annual industry and ServiceTitan's current solutions can address around $650 billion of that spend. With total spending on its platform annualizing at just over $60 billion, ServiceTitan has a long runway for growth. We also like the industry's resilience given that roughly 75% of U.S. residential trades jobs are non-discretionary in nature. Relative to the competition, ServiceTitan has several notable advantages including: 1) they are by far the leading end-to-end software platform built specifically for the trades, providing a strong ROI to clients (resulting in a 95% plus gross revenue retention) and would be very hard to catch at this point given that they can virtually be a one-stop-shop for all of a trades business' technology needs; 2) having a first mover advantage that allowed the company to build broad-based customer trust over time, becoming a standard across a growing number of trades and a competitive disadvantage to not use; and 3) the company's scale provides a big data advantage as ServiceTitan can use their industry leading data to make continuous improvements to their product offerings and connect previously disparate processes for customers, driving further ROI for customers. By offering a unified cloud-based platform specifically built for the trades, ServiceTitan is an important driver of digitization for trades businesses and is helping their customers modernize away from disjointed and on-premises legacy solutions. We believe that ServiceTitan is a high-quality business that will enjoy a long growth runway as it solves more problems for its customers and addresses larger parts of the market over time. |
| INDI | We also took advantage of the volatility in the shares of the automotive-focused fabless semiconductor company indie Semiconductor, Inc., to add to our position. We continue to believe the risk/reward for long-term investors is attractive as the company is temporarily impacted by the cyclical downturn in automotive. While the industry is in a downturn, indie continues winning new business, adding to its backlog, which has now surpassed $7 billion. This compared to annualized revenues of just over $200 million, creating a favorable outlook with a long runway for growth. |
| TSLA | We added to our Tesla, Inc. position during the quarter. We believe that the company's progress in robotics (both in autonomous driving as well as in humanoids), creates significant opportunities for the business model to inflect positively. While Tesla's automotive gross profits were under pressure in the short term, overall gross profits grew, enabling the company to continue reinvesting significant amounts in its future endeavors, including energy solutions, autonomous driving, AI, and humanoids. We believe that the majority of Tesla's intrinsic value would be driven over time by its other offerings outside of selling vehicles and have therefore added to our position. |
| CRWD | CrowdStrike Holdings, Inc. was among the top net sales during the quarter with $2.2 million sold. |
| SNOW | Snowflake detracted over 100bps from performance and was one of two systems software holdings whose near-term revenue growth rates have yet to recover, negatively impacting IT performance. |
| ZS | Zscaler was one of two systems software holdings whose near-term revenue growth rates have yet to recover, negatively impacting IT performance. |
| ENDV | Endava detracted over 100bps from performance and was the culprit for underperformance in the U.K. as an IT services provider. |
| RIVN | Rivian detracted over 100bps from performance and will now go under the 'Permanent Loss of Capital' column as we have sold the shares of Rivian. |
| Ticker | Put/Call | Amount Bought | Shares Bought | % Change | Weight % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No Recent Buys Data | |||||
| Ticker | Put/Call | Amount Sold | Shares Sold | % Change | Weight % | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No Recent Sells Data | ||||||
| Industry | Prev Quarter % | Current Quarter % | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| No industry data available | |||
