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 Hyatt Hotels Corporation (NYSE:H). Hyatt Hotels Corporation (NYSE:H) is a hospitality company headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. The one-month return of Hyatt Hotels Corporation (NYSE:H) was -10.45%, and its shares lost 18.66% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On May 7, 2025, Hyatt Hotels Corporation (NYSE:H) stock closed at $123.85 per share with a market capitalization of $11.822 billion.

Baron Focused Growth Fund stated the following regarding Hyatt Hotels Corporation (NYSE:H) in its Q1 2025 investor letter:

"Shares of global hotelier Hyatt Hotels Corporation (NYSE:H) detracted as Trump’s tariff policies generated heightened uncertainty around the macroeconomic environment. While the volatility during the first quarter is a concern, we believe it will be short term. Business fundamentals were strong, with solid forward bookings numbers as the business transient segment continued its post-pandemic recovery and the group business segment paced up by mid-single-digits. We expect double-digit EBITDA growth in 2025. The company has a strong balance sheet. The planned acquisition of Playa Hotels should be accretive to earnings, especially after Hyatt sells the underlying real estate properties. Once the sale is complete, over 90% of revenue will be fee-based, which should help close Hyatt’s multiple discount to peers."

A large hotel room with touches of luxury and hospitality in every corner.

Hyatt Hotels Corporation (NYSE:H) is not on our list of 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 35 hedge fund portfolios held Hyatt Hotels Corporation (NYSE:H) at the end of the fourth quarter compared to 22 in the third quarter. While we acknowledge the potential of Hyatt Hotels Corporation (NYSE:H) 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.

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In another article, we covered Hyatt Hotels Corporation (NYSE:H) and shared Nightview Capital'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.

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

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