Baron Funds, an investment management company, released its “Baron Fifth Avenue Growth Fund” first quarter 2025 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. The fund declined 13.4% (Institutional Shares) in the first quarter compared to a 10.0% decline for the Russell 1000 Growth Index and a 4.3% decrease for the S&P 500 Index. The Fund focuses on investing in Big Ideas, which often trade and can be considered long-duration assets. As a result, the portfolio frequently experiences significant stock price fluctuations, particularly in the short term and during periods of extreme market volatility, while the intrinsic values of businesses remain much more stable. Nevertheless, Q1 was a challenging first quarter. In addition, you can check the fund’s top 5 holdings to determine its best picks for 2025.
In its first-quarter 2025 investor letter, Baron Fifth Avenue Growth Fund highlighted stocks such as Veeva Systems Inc. (NYSE:VEEV). Veeva Systems Inc. (NYSE:VEEV) offers cloud-based software for the life sciences industry. The one-month return of Veeva Systems Inc. (NYSE:VEEV) was 18.91%, and its shares gained 52.38% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On June 20, 2025, Veeva Systems Inc. (NYSE:VEEV) stock closed at $280.08 per share, with a market capitalization of $45.768 billion.
Baron Fifth Avenue Growth Fund stated the following regarding Veeva Systems Inc. (NYSE:VEEV) in its Q1 2025 investor letter:
“Veeva Systems Inc. (NYSE:VEEV), a cloud platform focused on the life sciences industry, contributed to performance. Despite growing investor concerns over the pharmaceutical regulatory environment, quarterly results and full-year guidance both exceeded expectations. Platform adoption remained robust, highlighted by one of the largest subscription contracts in Veeva’s history, and positive adoption trends are visible across all key product verticals, including clinical, safety, quality, and data. Management expressed confidence in the transition of the customer relationship management (CRM) solution from a Salesforce backend to an in-house system. Although a top client opted for a competitor, Veeva anticipates most customers will adopt its new CRM solution, which targets previously untapped service and marketing segments and will expand AI-based offerings. Data cloud, which represents a large market opportunity, and its new AI offerings, which are showing growing traction with early adopters, have expanded the company’s opportunity and extended its growth runway.”
A team of IT experts monitoring a network of computers managing the medical content and communications.
Veeva Systems Inc. (NYSE:VEEV) is not on our list of 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 55 hedge fund portfolios held Veeva Systems Inc. (NYSE:VEEV) at the end of the first quarter, which was 60 in the previous quarter. The first quarter marked a solid beginning for Veeva Systems Inc. (NYSE:VEEV), with results surpassing expectations. The total revenue for the quarter reached $759 million, and the non-GAAP operating margin remained robust. While we acknowledge the potential of Veeva Systems Inc. (NYSE:VEEV) 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 undervalued AI stock set for massive gains.
In another article, we covered Veeva Systems Inc. (NYSE:VEEV) and shared The Brown Capital Management Small Company Fund’s views on the company. In addition, please check out our hedge fund investor letters Q1 2025 page for more investor letters from hedge funds and other leading investors. While we acknowledge the potential of VEEV as an investment, we believe certain AI stocks offer greater upside potential and carry less downside risk. If you’re looking for an extremely undervalued AI stock that also stands to benefit significantly from Trump-era tariffs and the onshoring trend, see our free report on the best short-term AI stock.
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Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.
