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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 Expedia Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXPE). Expedia Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXPE) is an online travel company with a market capitalization of $25.712 billion. The one-month return of Expedia Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXPE) was 16.05%, and its shares gained 45.84% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On February 26, 2025, Expedia Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXPE) stock closed at $199.54 per share.
Baron Real Estate Fund stated the following regarding Expedia Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXPE) in its Q4 2024 investor letter:
"We continued to acquire shares in our newly initiated investment in Expedia Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXPE) in the fourth quarter after building further confidence following positive data confirming several of our investment thesis points and spending more time with its new CEO Ariane Gorin. Expedia is a travel company providing online reservations and other services to consumers and businesses. The company is investing behind three core brands today including Expedia, Hotels.com and VRBO with 3.5 million properties including 2.5 million alternative accommodations (VRBO). We believe Expedia is a “fallen angel” (cheap/discounted valuation with catalysts), through peak pain on its technology platform migration (three-to four-year journey) and is finally seeing green shoots of growth in its highly valuable VRBO business (“hidden asset” home rental platform that is getting misvalued within the broader company). Lastly, Expedia is led by a strong executive team with new CEO Ariane Gorin, who has made organizational changes to streamline reporting structures, better align interests, and drive the business forward. We believe these changes will allow the company to be well positioned to capitalize on the compelling secular growth in travel going forward."
A busy airport terminal full of travelers eager to utilize the company's services.