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What Makes Spotify Technology S.A. (SPOT) an Investment Bet?

Baron Funds, an investment management company, released its “Baron Asset Fund” first quarter 2024 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. US markets continued its strong rally in the first quarter. Robust economic data and relatively strong corporate earnings boosted the rally along with the anticipation of a soft landing of the market. The fund (Institutional Shares) appreciated 6.00% in the quarter compared to 9.50% for the Russell Midcap Growth Index and 10.56% for the S&P 500 Index. Stock selection and headwinds from the Fund’s longtime style biases led the fund to underperform in the first quarter. In addition, please check the fund’s top five holdings to know its best picks in 2024.

Baron Asset Fund featured stocks like Spotify Technology S.A. (NYSE:SPOT) in the first quarter 2024 investor letter. Headquartered in Luxembourg City, Luxembourg, Spotify Technology S.A. (NYSE:SPOT) offers audio streaming subscription services. On May 13, 2024, Spotify Technology S.A. (NYSE:SPOT) stock closed at $289.71 per share. One-month return of Spotify Technology S.A. (NYSE:SPOT) was -2.81%, and its shares gained 98.00% of their value over the last 52 weeks. Spotify Technology S.A. (NYSE:SPOT) has a market capitalization of $57.668 billion.

Baron Asset Fund stated the following regarding Spotify Technology S.A. (NYSE:SPOT) in its first quarter 2024 investor letter:

“Another new addition was Spotify Technology S.A. (NYSE:SPOT), a leading global digital music service, offering on-demand audio streaming through paid premium subscriptions and an ad-supported free option. Spotify was among the originators of paid streaming music after the downloads/Napster era, with the Spotify app launching broadly in the early 2010s. Since then, streaming music has grown at a 20%-plus CAGR, and Spotify has been the leading streaming music service both in the U.S. and globally, with more than 600 million monthly average users. We believe that Spotify offers a compelling user experience, which includes algorithmic recommendations and podcasts.

While we have monitored Spotify for some time because of its product leadership and large market opportunity, we believe the last few months have signaled a meaningful positive inflection point for the company. First, Spotify has continued to show that its market is far from penetrated – subscriber net adds accelerated in 2023, even as the product has been widely available for years, thanks to targeted marketing in various countries and new product features. Next, Spotify’s gross margin profile continues to improve thanks to the impact of its artist promotions marketplace, growth in its advertising business, and improved profitability in its podcast offerings.

In addition, management has recently become much more focused on operating discipline, with 2024 expected to be Spotify’s first meaningfully profitable year after operating losses in 2021 and 2022. This has entailed material staff layoffs, restructuring the podcast division, and hiring a new operationally focused CFO. Furthermore, Spotify increased its pricing structure while seeing minimal customer loss, demonstrating the pricing power in its product and the broader streaming music industry. Finally, Spotify has continued to innovate its product roadmap, introducing audiobooks and features like AI DJ that differentiate it from other music streaming providers. We believe that Spotify has the potential to reach more than 1 billion monthly active users, as its global market share increases and music listening habits mature internationally, and we expect its profitability to continue to improve.”

Photo by Heidi Fin on Unsplash

Spotify Technology S.A. (NYSE:SPOT) is not on our list of 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. At the end of the fourth quarter, Spotify Technology S.A. (NYSE:SPOT) was held by 68 hedge fund portfolios, compared to 53 in the previous quarter, according to our database. In addition, please check out our hedge fund investor letters Q1 2024 page for more investor letters from hedge funds and other leading investors.

We discussed Spotify Technology S.A. (NYSE:SPOT) in another article and shared the list of music stocks to invest in. Spotify Technology S.A. (NYSE:SPOT) was one of Artisan Mid Cap Fund’s top contributors in Q1 2024.

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Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.

The $250 Trillion AI Hype is Real. A few years from now, you’ll probably wish you’d bought this stock.

When Jeff Bezos said that one breakthrough technology would shape Amazon’s destiny, even Wall Street’s biggest analysts were caught off guard.

Fast forward a year and Amazon’s new CEO Andy Jassy described generative AI as a “once-in-a-lifetime” technology that is already being used across Amazon to reinvent customer experiences.

At the 8th Future Investment Initiative conference, Elon Musk predicted that by 2040 there would be at least 10 billion humanoid robots, with each priced between $20,000 and $25,000.

Do the math. According to Musk, this technology could be worth $250 trillion by 2040.

Put another way, that’s roughly equal to:

  • 175 Teslas
  • 107 Amazons
  • 140 Metas
  • 84 Googles
  • 65 Microsofts
  • And 55 Nvidias

And here’s the wild part — this $250 trillion wave isn’t tied to one company, but to an entire ecosystem of AI innovators set to reshape the global economy.

It’s a leap so massive, it could reshape how businesses, governments, and consumers operate worldwide.

Even if that $250 trillion figure sounds ambitious, major firms like PwC and McKinsey still see AI unlocking multi-trillion-dollar potential.

How could anything be worth that much?

The answer lies in a breakthrough so powerful it’s redefining how humanity works, learns, and creates.

And this breakthrough has already set off a frenzy among hedge funds and Wall Street’s top investors.

What most investors don’t realize is that one under-owned company holds the key to this $250 trillion revolution.

In fact, Verge argues this company’s supercheap AI technology should concern rivals.

Before I reveal the details, let’s talk about how some of the richest people on the planet are positioning themselves.

  • Bill Gates sees artificial intelligence as the “biggest technological advance in my lifetime,” more transformative than the internet or personal computer, capable of improving healthcare, education, and addressing climate change.
  • Larry Ellison — through Oracle, is spending billions on Nvidia chips and partnering with Cohere to embed generative AI across Oracle’s cloud and apps.
  • Warren Buffett — not known for tech hype — says this breakthrough could have a ‘hugely beneficial social impact.

When billionaires from Silicon Valley to Wall Street line up behind the same idea — you know it’s worth paying attention to.

Even as we admire what Tesla, Nvidia, Alphabet, and Microsoft have built, we believe an even greater opportunity lies elsewhere…

But the real story isn’t Nvidia — it’s a much smaller company quietly improving the critical technology that makes this entire revolution possible.

And judging by what I’m hearing from both Silicon Valley insiders and Wall Street veterans…

This prediction might not be bold at all:

A few years from now, you’ll wish you’d owned this stock.

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AI, Tariffs, Nuclear Power: One Undervalued Stock Connects ALL the Dots (Before It Explodes!)

Artificial intelligence is the greatest investment opportunity of our lifetime. The time to invest in groundbreaking AI is now, and this stock is a steal!

AI is eating the world—and the machines behind it are ravenous.

Each ChatGPT query, each model update, each robotic breakthrough consumes massive amounts of energy. In fact, AI is already pushing global power grids to the brink.

Wall Street is pouring hundreds of billions into artificial intelligence—training smarter chatbots, automating industries, and building the digital future. But there’s one urgent question few are asking:

Where will all of that energy come from?

AI is the most electricity-hungry technology ever invented. Each data center powering large language models like ChatGPT consumes as much energy as a small city. And it’s about to get worse.

Even Sam Altman, the founder of OpenAI, issued a stark warning:

“The future of AI depends on an energy breakthrough.”

Elon Musk was even more blunt:

“AI will run out of electricity by next year.”

As the world chases faster, smarter machines, a hidden crisis is emerging behind the scenes. Power grids are strained. Electricity prices are rising. Utilities are scrambling to expand capacity.

And that’s where the real opportunity lies…

One little-known company—almost entirely overlooked by most AI investors—could be the ultimate backdoor play. It’s not a chipmaker. It’s not a cloud platform. But it might be the most important AI stock in the US owns critical energy infrastructure assets positioned to feed the coming AI energy spike.

As demand from AI data centers explodes, this company is gearing up to profit from the most valuable commodity in the digital age: electricity.

The “Toll Booth” Operator of the AI Energy Boom

  • It owns critical nuclear energy infrastructure assets, positioning it at the heart of America’s next-generation power strategy.
  • It’s one of the only global companies capable of executing large-scale, complex EPC (engineering, procurement, and construction) projects across oil, gas, renewable fuels, and industrial infrastructure.
  • It plays a pivotal role in U.S. LNG exportation—a sector about to explode under President Trump’s renewed “America First” energy doctrine.

Trump has made it clear: Europe and U.S. allies must buy American LNG.

And our company sits in the toll booth—collecting fees on every drop exported.

But that’s not all…

As Trump’s proposed tariffs push American manufacturers to bring their operations back home, this company will be first in line to rebuild, retrofit, and reengineer those facilities.

AI. Energy. Tariffs. Onshoring. This One Company Ties It All Together.

While the world is distracted by flashy AI tickers, a few smart investors are quietly scooping up shares of the one company powering it all from behind the scenes.

AI needs energy. Energy needs infrastructure.

And infrastructure needs a builder with experience, scale, and execution.

This company has its finger in every pie—and Wall Street is just starting to notice.

Wall Street is noticing this company also because it is quietly riding all of these tailwinds—without the sky-high valuation.

While most energy and utility firms are buried under mountains of debt and coughing up hefty interest payments just to appease bondholders…

This company is completely debt-free.

In fact, it’s sitting on a war chest of cash—equal to nearly one-third of its entire market cap.

It also owns a huge equity stake in another red-hot AI play, giving investors indirect exposure to multiple AI growth engines without paying a premium.

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The Hedge Fund Secret That’s Starting to Leak Out

This stock is so off-the-radar, so absurdly undervalued, that some of the most secretive hedge fund managers in the world have begun pitching it at closed-door investment summits.

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Why? Because excluding cash and investments, this company is trading at less than 7 times earnings.

And that’s for a business tied to:

  • The AI infrastructure supercycle
  • The onshoring boom driven by Trump-era tariffs
  • A surge in U.S. LNG exports
  • And a unique footprint in nuclear energy—the future of clean, reliable power

You simply won’t find another AI and energy stock this cheap… with this much upside.

This isn’t a hype stock. It’s not riding on hope.

It’s delivering real cash flows, owns critical infrastructure, and holds stakes in other major growth stories.

This is your chance to get in before the rockets take off!

Disruption is the New Name of the Game: Let’s face it, complacency breeds stagnation.

AI is the ultimate disruptor, and it’s shaking the foundations of traditional industries.

The companies that embrace AI will thrive, while the dinosaurs clinging to outdated methods will be left in the dust.

As an investor, you want to be on the side of the winners, and AI is the winning ticket.

The Talent Pool is Overflowing: The world’s brightest minds are flocking to AI.

From computer scientists to mathematicians, the next generation of innovators is pouring its energy into this field.

This influx of talent guarantees a constant stream of groundbreaking ideas and rapid advancements.

By investing in AI, you’re essentially backing the future.

The future is powered by artificial intelligence, and the time to invest is NOW.

Don’t be a spectator in this technological revolution.

Dive into the AI gold rush and watch your portfolio soar alongside the brightest minds of our generation.

This isn’t just about making money – it’s about being part of the future.

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1. Head over to our website and subscribe to our Premium Readership Newsletter for just $9.99.

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