Baron Funds, an investment management firm, released its “Focused Growth Fund” fourth quarter 2024 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. The fund continued to generate robust absolute and relative results in the fourth quarter. The fund increased 14.49% (Institutional Shares) in the quarter outperforming the Russell 2500 Growth Index’s (the Benchmark) 2.43%. Please spare some time to check the fund’s top 5 holdings to know more about their top bets for 2024.
In its fourth quarter 2024 investor letter, Baron Focused Growth Fund emphasized stocks such as FIGS, Inc. (NYSE:FIGS). Headquartered in Santa Monica, California, FIGS, Inc. (NYSE:FIGS) is a US-based healthcare apparel and lifestyle company. The one-month return of FIGS, Inc. (NYSE:FIGS) was -10.30%, and its shares lost 10.30% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On February 19, 2025, FIGS, Inc. (NYSE:FIGS) stock closed at $5.40 per share with a market capitalization of $916.974 million.
Baron Focused Growth Fund stated the following regarding FIGS, Inc. (NYSE:FIGS) in its Q4 2024 investor letter:
“FIGS, Inc. (NYSE:FIGS) designs and sells scrub wear to health care professionals using a digitally native direct-to-consumer (DTC) strategy. Shares declined following disappointing quarterly results, including a drop in revenue of 1.5% versus Street expectations of slight growth. Management attributed the soft revenue results to specific delays, out of stocks in popular footwear styles, and changes in the marketing calendar. Margins also missed expectations due, in part, to expenses associated with the transition to a new distribution facility. We retain long-term conviction that the company will consolidate the health care apparel industry through its DTC offering and superior product quality. We also believe margins will improve as FIGS laps one-time expenses from an earlier Olympics marketing campaign and the new distribution center.”
A medical professional in a clean white lab coat, standing amidst a high-tech clinical environment.
FIGS, Inc. (NYSE:FIGS) is not on our list of 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 14 hedge fund portfolios held FIGS, Inc. (NYSE:FIGS) at the end of the fourth quarter compared to 14 in the third quarter. While we acknowledge the potential of FIGS, Inc. (NYSE:FIGS) 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 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.