Baron Funds, an investment management company, released its “Baron Fifth Avenue Growth Fund” fourth quarter 2024 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. The fund experienced an excellent quarter to end another successful year. The fund increased 11.7% (Institutional Shares) in the fourth quarter compared to a 7.1% gain for the Russell 1000 Growth Index and a 2.4% increase for the S&P 500 Index. For the full year, the fund returned 37.8% compared to 33.4% and 25.0% gains for the indexes. In addition, please check the fund’s top five holdings to know its best picks in 2024.
In its fourth quarter 2024 investor letter, Baron Fifth Avenue Growth Fund emphasized stocks such as Coupang, Inc. (NYSE:CPNG). Coupang, Inc. (NYSE:CPNG) owns and operates retail business through an e-commerce platform. The one-month return of Coupang, Inc. (NYSE:CPNG) was 6.39%, and its shares gained 45.83% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On February 24, 2025, Coupang, Inc. (NYSE:CPNG) stock closed at $24.63 per share with a market capitalization of $44.31 billion.
Baron Fifth Avenue Growth Fund stated the following regarding Coupang, Inc. (NYSE:CPNG) in its Q4 2024 investor letter:
“Shares of Coupang, Inc. (NYSE:CPNG), Korea’s largest e-commerce platform, corrected 10.5% in the fourth quarter (even though they finished 2024 up 33.9%). 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.”
A woman holding a laptop, wearing a graphic t-shirt, casually checking her e-commerce order.
Coupang, Inc. (NYSE:CPNG) is not on our list of 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 87 hedge fund portfolios held Coupang, Inc. (NYSE:CPNG) at the end of the fourth quarter compared to 56 in the third quarter. While we acknowledge the potential of Coupang, Inc. (NYSE:CPNG) as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns, and doing so within a shorter timeframe. If you are looking for an AI stock that is as promising as NVIDIA but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.
In another article, we discussed Coupang, Inc. (NYSE:CPNG) and shared the list of best consumer discretionary stocks to buy according to analysts. In its Q3 2024 investor letter, Baron Global Advantage Fund highlighted Coupang, Inc. (NYSE:CPNG) as one of the top e-commerce companies globally, with strong potential for revenue and earnings growth. In addition, please check out our hedge fund investor letters Q4 2024 page for more investor letters from hedge funds and other leading investors.
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Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.