In This Article:
Baron Funds, an investment management company, released its “Baron Discovery Fund” fourth quarter 2024 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. In the fourth quarter, the fund appreciated 6.20% (Institutional Shares), outperforming the 4.50% return for the Russell 2000 Growth Index. For the year ended December 31, 2024, the fund returned 16.28% compared to the index’s 15.15% return. Given the challenging start in the first half of the year, the fund was pleased with the outperformance of the fund in 2024. In addition, please check the fund’s top five holdings to know its best picks in 2024.
Baron Discovery Fund highlighted stocks like Axon Enterprise, Inc. (NASDAQ:AXON), in the fourth quarter 2024 investor letter. Axon Enterprise, Inc. (NASDAQ:AXON) manufacturers conducted energy devices (CEDs) under the TASER brand. The one-month return of Axon Enterprise, Inc. (NASDAQ:AXON) was 0.39%, and its shares gained 144.02% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On January 23, 2024, Axon Enterprise, Inc. (NASDAQ:AXON) stock closed at $613.38 per share with a market capitalization of $46.773 billion.
Baron Discovery Fund stated the following regarding Axon Enterprise, Inc. (NASDAQ:AXON) in its Q4 2024 investor letter:
"Shares of Axon Enterprise, Inc. (NASDAQ:AXON), the leading provider of tasers, body cameras, and other public safety solutions, rose after a robust quarterly earnings report. The company closed the quarter with record bookings and highlighted the 2025 launch of an AI bundle oriented around its innovative Draft One product (which automates the process of report writing for public safety officers). With eleven consecutive quarters of more than 25% revenue growth, Axon continues to find new areas of expansion as it pulls ahead of the competition and is on track to become the dominant provider of public safety solutions in the U.S., and, increasingly, in Europe."
A technician in a white coat testing an in-car system on a modern military vehicle.
Axon Enterprise, Inc. (NASDAQ:AXON) is not on our list of 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 46 hedge fund portfolios held Axon Enterprise, Inc. (NASDAQ:AXON) at the end of the third quarter which was 36 in the previous quarter. In the third quarter, Axon Enterprise, Inc.’s (NASDAQ:AXON) revenue grew 32% year-over-year and delivered strong adjusted EBITDA with a 26.7% margin. While we acknowledge the potential of Axon Enterprise, Inc. (NASDAQ:AXON) 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.