Baron Durable Advantage Fund Increased Its Position in Alphabet (GOOG)

Baron Funds released its “Baron Durable Advantage Fund” second-quarter 2025 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. The fund primarily focuses on investing in securities of large-sized companies. The fund increased 15.6% (Institutional Shares) in the second quarter compared to a 10.9% return for the S&P 500 Index (the Index). The Fund is up 7.5%, year to date, compared to the 6.2% gain for the Index. After two consecutive years of strong market recovery, there was a correction at the end of the first quarter and the early part of the second quarter. But later in the second quarter, the market rebounded meaningfully. For more information on the fund’s best picks in 2025, please check its top five holdings.

In its second-quarter 2025 investor letter, Baron Durable Advantage Fund highlighted stocks such as Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG). Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG), the parent company of Google, offers various platforms and services operating through Google Services, Google Cloud, and Other Bets segments. The one-month return of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) was 3.62%, and its shares gained 20.97% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On August 20, 2025, Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) stock closed at $200.19 per share, with a market capitalization of $2.415 trillion.

Baron Durable Advantage Fund stated the following regarding Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) in its second quarter 2025 investor letter:

“Very briefly on the other, smaller adds to existing investments during the second quarter. Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) – We believe Alphabet will ultimately maintain its market leadership despite near-term competition and stock volatility. The combination of Alphabet’s world-class AI talent, unmatched data across nine platforms with a billion users or more, and its full-stack cloud platform will serve as keys to success, in our view.”

BMO Capital Reiterates Outperform on Alphabet (GOOGL), Raises Price Target to $208

A user’s hands typing a search query into a Google Search box, emphasizing the company’s search capabilities.

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) is in 7th position on our list of 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 164 hedge fund portfolios held Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) at the end of the first quarter which was 174 in the previous quarter. In the second quarter of 2025, Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) achieved a revenue of $96.4 billion, representing an increase of 14% compared to Q2 2024. While we acknowledge the risk and potential of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that some AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns and doing so within a shorter time frame. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) and that has 10,000% upside potential, check out our report about this cheapest AI stock.

In another article, we covered Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) and shared Giverny Capital Asset Management’s views on the company. In addition, please check out our hedge fund investor letters Q2 2025 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.