Baron Funds, an investment management firm, released its “Focused Growth Fund” first quarter 2025 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. Q1 was a difficult start to the year. The fund declined 7.95% (Institutional Shares) in the quarter, compared to the Russell 2500 Growth Index’s (the Benchmark) 10.80% return. Please spare some time to check the fund’s top 5 holdings to know more about their top bets for 2025.

In its first-quarter 2025 investor letter, Baron Focused Growth Fund highlighted stocks such as IDEXX Laboratories, Inc. (NASDAQ:IDXX). IDEXX Laboratories, Inc. (NASDAQ:IDXX) develops, manufactures, and distributes products primarily for the companion animal veterinary, livestock and poultry, dairy, and water testing markets. The one-month return of IDEXX Laboratories, Inc. (NASDAQ:IDXX) was 27.44%, and its shares lost 2.84% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On May 7, 2025, IDEXX Laboratories, Inc. (NASDAQ:IDXX) stock closed at $486.61 per share with a market capitalization of $39.134 billion.

Baron Focused Growth Fund stated the following regarding IDEXX Laboratories, Inc. (NASDAQ:IDXX) in its Q1 2025 investor letter:

"The performance of many stocks in the Health Care sector can change quickly due to exogenous events or binary outcomes (e.g., biotechnology and pharmaceuticals). As a result, we do not invest a large amount in these stocks in this focused portfolio. In Health Care, we invest in competitively advantaged companies that are leaders in their industries such as IDEXX Laboratories, Inc. (NASDAQ:IDXX), the leading provider of diagnostics to the veterinary industry and who is benefiting from the increase in pets that people acquired during the COVID pandemic, especially as these pets age. The Fund is further diversified by investments in businesses at different stages of growth and development."Is Zomedica Corp. (ZOMDF) the Cheapest Stock Insiders Are Buying In March?

A veterinarian in a veterinary clinic examining a companion animal.

IDEXX Laboratories, Inc. (NASDAQ:IDXX) is not on our list of 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 58 hedge fund portfolios held IDEXX Laboratories, Inc. (NASDAQ:IDXX) at the end of the fourth quarter which was 42 in the previous quarter. In the first quarter of 2025, IDEXX Laboratories, Inc. (NASDAQ:IDXX) reported organic revenue growth of 5% driven by 4.5% organic revenue gains in the CAG business, 7% organic growth in water, and 4% organic growth in LPD. While we acknowledge the potential of IDEXX Laboratories, Inc. (NASDAQ:IDXX) 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.

Story Continues

In another article, we covered IDEXX Laboratories, Inc. (NASDAQ:IDXX) and shared TimesSquare Capital Management U.S. Focus Growth Strategy's views on the company in the previous quarter. In addition, please check out our hedge fund investor letters Q1 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.

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