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 Interactive Brokers Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:IBKR). Founded in 1977, Interactive Brokers Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:IBKR) is an automated electronic broker. The one-month return of Interactive Brokers Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:IBKR) was 11.56%, and its shares gained 117.92% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On February 19, 2025, Interactive Brokers Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:IBKR) stock closed at $232.65 per share with a market capitalization of $98.3 billion.
Baron Focused Growth Fund stated the following regarding Interactive Brokers Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:IBKR) in its Q4 2024 investor letter:
“Interactive Brokers Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:IBKR) is a leading online brokerage house that serves customers in over 200 countries. Positive returns during the quarter reflected strong fundamental performance, including year-over-year growth of 30% in accounts, 33% in client assets, and 45% in margin loans. These increases were driven largely by Interactive Brokers’ strength in international markets, as non-U.S. investors looked to access U.S. markets and equities, which largely outperformed their global peers in 2024. The company also participated in the broader rally of financial stocks following the Republican elections sweep. Expectations of heightened capital markets activity, a more pro-business regulator, and the potential for increasing market volatility all bode well for the company’s volumes, account growth, and earnings. We believe Interactive Brokers has a compelling long-term growth path and remain investors.”
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Interactive Brokers Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:IBKR) is not on our list of 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 69 hedge fund portfolios held Interactive Brokers Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:IBKR) at the end of the fourth quarter compared to 52 in the third quarter. For the year 2024, Interactive Brokers Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:IBKR) generated $5 billion in net revenues for the first time and achieved a 71% pretax margin. While we acknowledge the potential of Interactive Brokers Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:IBKR) 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 Interactive Brokers Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:IBKR) and shared the list of best low risk high growth stocks to invest in. 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.
