Hero Background Image

Baron Opportunity Fund

Symbol BIOUXCUSIP: 068278795
Symbol BIOUXCUSIP: 068278795
A
All-Cap Growth

Nav

$45.74

Daily Change $0.16 (0.35%)
As of 04/29/2025

Net Assets

$1.35 B

As of 03/31/2025

Morningstar Rating™

As of 03/31/2025

Morningstar Medalist Rating™

medal Logo

SILVER

Inception date

02/29/2000

Overview

Portfolio manager Mike Lippert manages an all-cap Fund that favors large-cap growth businesses. He uses a thematic approach to find companies benefiting from innovation through development of pioneering, transformative, or technologically advanced products and services. 
For the period ended 12/31/2024, the Baron Opportunity Fund received a 3-Star Overall Morningstar Rating™, 2-Star 3-Year Rating, and 4-Star 5-Year Rating. The Morningstar Ratings are based on the Morningstar Risk-Adjusted Return measures of 1020, 1020, and 952 funds in the category, respectively. This Morningstar Rating is for the R6 share class only; other classes may have different performance characteristics.
The Morningstar Rating™ for funds, or "star rating", is calculated for managed products (including mutual funds, variable annuity and variable life subaccounts, exchange-traded funds, closed-end funds, and separate accounts) with at least a three-year history. Exchange-traded funds and open-ended mutual funds are considered a single population for comparative purposes. It is calculated based on a Morningstar Risk-Adjusted Return measure that accounts for variation in a managed product's monthly excess performance, placing more emphasis on downward variations and rewarding consistent performance. The Morningstar Rating does not include any adjustment for sales loads. The top 10% of products in each product 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. The Overall Morningstar Rating for a managed product is derived from a weighted average of the performance figures associated with its three-, five-, and 10-year (if applicable) Morningstar Rating metrics. The weights are: 100% three-year rating for 36-59 months of total returns, 60% five-year rating/40% three-year rating for 60-119 months of total returns, and 50% 10-year rating/30% five-year rating/20% three-year rating for 120 or more months of total returns. While the 10-year overall star rating formula seems to give the most weight to the 10- year period, the most recent three-year period actually has the greatest impact because it is included in all three rating periods.
Morningstar classifies funds as being large-cap, mid-cap, or small-cap based on the market capitalization of the fund’s stock holdings; and as value, blend, or growth based on the value-growth orientation of the stock holdings. The nine possible combinations of these characteristics correspond to the nine squares of the Morningstar Style Box–size is displayed along the vertical axis and style is displayed along the horizontal axis. Please note that the style boxes indicate the Fund’s equity style, not necessarily its Morningstar Category.
The Morningstar Medalist Rating™ is the summary expression of Morningstar’s forward-looking analysis of investment strategies as offered via specific vehicles using a rating scale of Gold, Silver, Bronze, Neutral, and Negative. The Medalist Ratings indicate which investments Morningstar believes are likely to outperform a relevant index or peer group average on a risk-adjusted basis over time. Investment products are evaluated on three key pillars (People, Parent, and Process) which, when coupled with a fee assessment, forms the basis for Morningstar’s conviction in those products’ investment merits and determines the Medalist Rating they’re assigned. Pillar ratings take the form of Low, Below Average, Average, Above Average, and High. Pillars may be evaluated via an analyst’s qualitative assessment (either directly to a vehicle the analyst covers or indirectly when the pillar ratings of a covered vehicle are mapped to a related uncovered vehicle) or using algorithmic techniques. Vehicles are sorted by their expected performance into rating groups defined by their Morningstar Category and their active or passive status. When analysts directly cover a vehicle, they assign the three pillar ratings based on their qualitative assessment, subject to the oversight of the Analyst Rating Committee, and monitor and reevaluate them at least every 14 months. When the vehicles are covered either indirectly by analysts or by algorithm, the ratings are assigned monthly. For more detailed information about these ratings, including their methodology, please go to global.morningstar.com/managerdisclosures/.

The Morningstar Medalist Ratings are not statements of fact, nor are they credit or risk ratings. The Morningstar Medalist Rating (i) should not be used as the sole basis in evaluating an investment product, (ii) involves unknown risks and uncertainties which may cause expectations not to occur or to differ significantly from what was expected, (iii) are not guaranteed to be based on complete or accurate assumptions or models when determined algorithmically, (iv) involve the risk that the return target will not be met due to such things as unforeseen changes in management, technology, economic development, interest rate development, operating and/or material costs, competitive pressure, supervisory law, exchange rate, tax rates, exchange rate changes, and/or changes in political and social conditions, and (v) should not be considered an offer or solicitation to buy or sell the investment product. A change in the fundamental factors underlying the Morningstar Medalist Rating can mean that the rating is subsequently no longer accurate.


© 2025 Morningstar. All Rights Reserved. The information contained herein: (1) is proprietary to Morningstar and/or its affiliates or content providers; (2) may not be copied, adapted or distributed; (3) is not warranted to be accurate, complete or timely; and (4) does not constitute advice of any kind, whether investment, tax, legal or otherwise. User is solely responsible for ensuring that any use of this information complies with all laws, regulations and restrictions applicable to it. Neither Morningstar nor its content providers are responsible for any damages or losses arising from any use of this information. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.
MORNINGSTAR IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY DELETION, DAMAGE, LOSS OR FAILURE TO STORE ANY PRODUCT OUTPUT, COMPANY CONTENT OR OTHER CONTENT.

Prices & Performance

PricesAs of 04/29/2025

NAVDaily Change ($)Daily Change (%)MTDQTDYTD
$45.74$0.160.35%2.83%2.83%-9.48%
NAV$45.74
Daily Change ($)$0.16
Daily Change (%)0.35%
MTD2.83%
QTD2.83%
YTD-9.48%

PerformanceAs of 03/31/2025

Portfolio or IndexQTD1YTD11 Year3 Years5 Years10 YearsSince Inception 02/29/2000
BIOUX - Baron Opportunity Fund - R6-11.97%-11.97%7.07%8.01%19.23%16.22%9.59%
Russell 3000 Growth Index-10.00%-10.00%7.18%9.63%19.57%14.55%7.16%
S&P 500 Index-4.27%-4.27%8.25%9.06%18.59%12.50%7.79%

1 Not annualized.

The 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 Adviser may waive or reimburse certain Fund expenses pursuant to a contract expiring on August 29, 2035, unless renewed for another 11-year term and 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. For performance information current to the most recent month end, visit BaronCapitalGroup.com or call 1-800-99-BARON.

The Fund’s historical performance was impacted by gains from IPOs and there is no guarantee that these results can be repeated or that the Fund’s level of participation in IPOs will be the same in the future.

Performance InformationAs of 03/31/2025

Performance statistics3 Years5 Years10 Years
Standard Deviation (%)24.5624.5721.13
Sharpe Ratio0.150.670.68
Alpha (%)-2.21-1.830.47
Beta1.151.131.11
R-Squared (%)90.7885.9084.38
Tracking Error (%)8.049.588.58
Information Ratio-0.20-0.040.19
Upside Capture (%)111.18106.03111.43
Downside Capture (%)120.31112.00111.31
Except for Standard Deviation and Sharpe Ratio, the performance based-characteristics above were calculated relative to the Baron Opportunity Fund's(BIOUX) benchmark Russell 3000 Growth Index. Performance statistics for additional periods will be provided on request. Source FactSet: SPAR.

Portfolio Holdings & Characteristics

HoldingsAs of 03/31/2025

HoldingSector% of Net Assets
NVIDIA Corporation
NVIDIA Corporation (NVDA) sells semiconductors, systems, and software for accelerated computing, gaming, and generative AI.
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 generative AI 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 Technology10.2%
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, diverse platform of software offerings, 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 Technology7.2%
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 retail sales is less than 5%. Amazon has many avenues for revenue growth, including consumer staples, international expansion, digital media offerings, private label, pharmacy and healthcare 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, margin-accretive part of the business.
Consumer Discretionary6.8%
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 3.3 billion total daily 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 has significant room to further monetize its vast customer base, especially internationally. In addition, we see significant positive optionality from monetization opportunities in generative AI features, video, WhatsApp, and business messaging.
Communication Services5.2%
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, SpaceX has an advantage in building and operating its rapidly expanding satellite-based broadband services, creating an even more attractive growth profile for the company.
Industrials5.2%
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 Technology4.8%
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 Broadcom to tap into most of the $75 billion serviceable addressable market in AI across its three largest customers by 2027 and to grow VMware at a high-teens rate over the next few years. The rest of Broadcom’s semiconductor business is recovering, and we expect other software segments to grow at a mid-single-digit rate. The company has best-in-class margins and cash flow, which it returns to shareholders.
Information Technology4.5%
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 263 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 1 billion subscribers (from 675 million today) and improve margins materially through advertising, its artist promotions marketplace, audiobooks, and improved cost discipline. We expect Spotify to continually improve its value proposition through additional features like video, and monetize this value through more optimized pricing tiers like Super Premium.
Communication Services4.5%
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), pickup, and semi-truck. It is also ramping up internal battery cell production, energy solutions, and robotics offerings such as full self-driving and humanoids and renewable energy generation and storage solutions.
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 Discretionary4.3%
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 Care2.8%
Total
55.6%
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 03/31/2025

Top ContributorsAverage WeightContribution
X.AI Holdings Corp.0.88%0.70%
Spotify Technology S.A.3.92%0.55%
Inari Medical, Inc.0.20%0.40%
CoStar Group, Inc.2.32%0.20%
Visa Inc.2.08%0.17%
Source: FactSet PA.

GICS Sector BreakdownAs of 03/31/2025

Chart

Pie chart with 10 slices.
End of interactive chart.

Sector

Information Technology

53.0%

Communication Services

12.8%

Consumer Discretionary

12.3%

Financials

6.3%

Industrials

6.0%

Health Care

5.8%

Real Estate

2.7%

Consumer Staples

0.5%

Cash & Cash Equivalents

0.3%

Materials

0.2%

Sub-Industry

03/31/2025
Semiconductors18.20%
Systems Software13.60%
Application Software8.50%
Interactive Media & Services6.90%
Broadline Retail 6.80%
Aerospace & Defense5.20%
Technology Hardware, Storage & Peripherals4.80%
Transaction & Payment Processing Services 4.60%
Movies & Entertainment4.50%
Automobile Manufacturers4.30%
Biotechnology4.30%
Internet Services & Infrastructure3.30%
Real Estate Services 2.70%
IT Consulting & Other Services2.00%
Investment Banking & Brokerage1.70%
048121620
Semiconductors18.20%
Systems Software13.60%
Application Software8.50%
Interactive Media & Services6.90%
Broadline Retail 6.80%
Aerospace & Defense5.20%
Technology Hardware, Storage & Peripherals4.80%
Transaction & Payment Processing Services 4.60%
Movies & Entertainment4.50%
Automobile Manufacturers4.30%
Biotechnology4.30%
Internet Services & Infrastructure3.30%
Real Estate Services 2.70%
IT Consulting & Other Services2.00%
Investment Banking & Brokerage1.70%
048121620

Portfolio CharacteristicsAs of 03/31/2025

DescriptionBaron Opportunity FundS&P 500 Index
Inception DateFebruary 29, 2000
Net Assets$1.35 billion
# of Issuers / % of Net Assets44/99.7%
Turnover (3 Year Average)29.81%
Active Share56.0%
Median Market Cap$33.71 billion$35.86 billion
Weighted Average Market Cap$1.00 trillion$905.84 billion
Expense Ratio1.05%
As of FYE Current Expense Ratio Date1/28/2025
EPS Growth (3-5 year forecast)20.7%12.3%
Price/Earnings Ratio (trailing 12-month)39.7x24.3x
Price/Book Ratio9.2x3.7x
Price/Sales Ratio8.2x2.7x
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
12/16/202412/17/202412/18/2024$0.0000$0.0000$0.0000$2.3307$2.3307$52.9840.26%
11/22/202111/23/202111/24/2021$0.0000$0.0000$2.0076$1.5956$3.6032$45.4512.28%
11/23/202011/24/202011/25/2020$0.0000$0.0000$0.1878$2.5970$2.7848$37.4289.34%
11/25/201911/26/201911/27/2019$0.0000$0.0000$0.0000$1.6760$1.6760$23.49
11/28/201811/29/201811/30/2018$0.0000$0.0000$0.0000$0.9258$0.9258$19.878.34%
For estimated distributions, visit the Tax Center
Michael Lippert, Vice President, Portfolio Manager and Head of Technology Research
Investor Series

Baron Opportunity Fund: Investing in Sustainable Secular Trends in Innovation

Learn more about the investment approach for Baron Opportunity Fund.