Baron Funds, an investment management company, released its “Baron Real Estate Fund” fourth quarter 2024 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. The fund increased 12.46% (Institutional Shares) in the full year compared to a 7.49% return for the MSCI US REIT Index (the REIT Index) and a 12.70% return for the MSCI USA IMI Extended Real Estate Index (the MSCI Real Estate Index). The fund decreased 2.98% in the fourth quarter, outperforming 6.39% and 4.69% declines for the indexes for the same period. 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 Real Estate Fund emphasized stocks such as Equinix, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQIX). Equinix, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQIX) is a digital infrastructure company. The one-month return of Equinix, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQIX) was -1.29%, and its shares gained 2.41% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On February 26, 2025, Equinix, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQIX) stock closed at $38.88 per share with a market capitalization of $88.599 billion.
Baron Real Estate Fund stated the following regarding Equinix, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQIX) in its Q4 2024 investor letter:
“In the most recent quarter, the shares of Equinix, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQIX), the premier global operator of network-dense, carrier-neutral data centers, performed well following solid third quarter results. We continue to be optimistic about the long-term growth prospects for the company due to its interconnection focus among a highly curated customer ecosystem, irreplaceable global footprint, strong demand and pricing power, favorable supply backdrop, and evolving incremental demand vectors such as AI. Equinix has multiple levers to drive outsized bottom-line growth with operating leverage. Equinix should compound its earnings per share at approximately 10% over the next few years and we believe the prospects for outsized shareholder returns remain compelling from here given the superior secular growth prospects combined with a discounted valuation.
In the most recent quarter, we acquired additional shares of Equinix, Inc., the premier global operator of network-dense, carrier-neutral data centers
We continue to be optimistic about the long-term growth prospects for the company due to its interconnection focus among a highly curated customer ecosystem, irreplaceable global footprint, strong demand and pricing power, favorable supply backdrop and evolving incremental demand vectors such as AI. The company has multiple levers to drive outsized bottom-line growth with operating leverage. Equinix should compound its earnings per share at approximately 10% over the next few years and we believe the prospects for outsized shareholder returns remain compelling from here given the superior secular growth prospects combined with a discounted valuation.”
A team of IT professionals working on a digital platform, indicating the company’s agile digital services.
Equinix, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQIX) is not on our list of 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 56 hedge fund portfolios held Equinix, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQIX) at the end of the fourth quarter compared to 55 in the third quarter. Equinix, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQIX) reported full-year revenues of $8.7 billion, reflecting an 8% increase compared to the previous year, marking an impressive 22 consecutive years of quarterly revenue growth. While we acknowledge the potential of Equinix, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQIX) 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 Equinix, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQIX) and shared AI news and ratings making waves on Wall Street. 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.