Baron
Baron Discovery Fund
US Mid-cap Growth
Dec 2024 → Sep 2026
Our archive holds 9 letters from this strategy, behind 33 investment theses and positions in 35 companies. Every quote below is copied verbatim from the letter it came from.
9 letters in 3 years · follow all of Baron for every strategy.
Performance
as of Sep 30, 2026 · net of fees · USD · Institutional Shares
- YTD+2.0%index +10.7%
- 1Y+2.2%index +12.1%
- 3Y · /yr+13.9%index +17.6%
- 5Y · /yr+0.3%index +4.7%
- 10Y · /yr+12.2%index +9.9%
- Inception · /yr+12.0%index +9.1%
Index: Russell 2000 Growth Index
| YTD | 1Y | 3Yper year | 5Yper year | 10Yper year | Since inceptionper year | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Baron Discovery Fund | +2.0% | +2.2% | +13.9% | +0.3% | +12.2% | +12.0% |
| Russell 2000 Growth Index | +10.7% | +12.1% | +17.6% | +4.7% | +9.9% | +9.1% |
Since inception: Since Inception (9/30/2013)
Disclaimer
These figures are copied from the manager’s latest letter, as of Sep 30, 2026. They were extracted automatically, have not been verified by HF Best Ideas and may contain errors. They cover a single share class, in the currency and fee basis stated above; other share classes and your own returns will differ. This is not investment advice, nor an offer to buy or sell any fund. Past performance does not predict future returns.
Read full disclosures →What it bought and sold
- New positionJersey Mike's SubsSep 2026
During the quarter, we initiated a position in Jersey Mike’s Subs Inc., a franchisor of fast casual, submarine-style sandwich restaurants.
- New positionReformationSep 2026
We also purchased Reformation Inc., which went public earlier this year.
- New positionLyntrisSep 2026
We participated in the IPO of Lyntris Inc., a fast-growing proprietary defense solutions provider with a 90% sole-sourced portfolio exposed to many of the nation’s key defense offerings.
We trimmed positions in Rubrik, Inc. and CareDx, Inc. after significant share price gains (up 43.4% and 129.7%, respectively) lifted them to outsized weightings in the Fund.
We trimmed positions in Rubrik, Inc. and CareDx, Inc. after significant share price gains (up 43.4% and 129.7%, respectively) lifted them to outsized weightings in the Fund.
We sold our position in Wingstop Inc. during the quarter to allocate the proceeds into other restaurant companies where we felt there was better upside potential.
We initiated a position in Rubrik, Inc. , a subscription software company focused on automating backup, storage, and recovery of corporate data, as well as creating resilience to cyberattacks on that data.
We initiated a new position in Samsara Inc.
This caused significant upward share price movement, and we trimmed our investment based upon shares nearing our long- term valuation targets.
We thought that at their lowest levels of $11 to $12 last summer, CareDx shares were pricing in a worst-case scenario, and we meaningfully increased our position at those levels.
Top net sales for the quarter Year Acquired Market Cap When Acquired ($B) Quarter End Market Cap or Market Cap When Sold ($B) Net Amount Sold ($M) Establishment Labs Holdings Inc. 2022 1.9 2.5 40.1 Advanced Energy Industries, Inc. 2019 2.6 14.2 34.9 Birkenstock Holding plc 2025 9.6 8.1 32.7 SiTime Corporation 2023 2.3 19.7 27.6 Alkami Technology Inc. 2021 3.6 1.8 27.3
In the quarter we sold about 60% of our investment at $375, on the back of excitement about the growth in AI data center buildouts.
While we remain long-term believers in the brand, we exited our position in Birkenstock Holding plc in order to raise capital for new ideas that we felt had higher return potential.
During the quarter, we reinitiated a position in Advanced Drainage Systems, Inc. (ADS), the leading U.S. manufacturer of stormwater and onsite wastewater management products.
We remain investors and used recent weakness to add to our position.
During the quarter we purchased Shake Shack Inc. , a premium fast-casual burger chain.
During the quarter, we purchased Shake Shack Inc., a premium fast-casual burger chain.
Also held
- Forgent Power Solutions
- Establishment Labs Holdings
- Tempus AI
- Heartflow
- Karman Holdings
- Dynatrace
- Novanta
- Repligen Corporation
- Mercury Systems
- Loar Holdings
- SiTime Corporation
- Forgent Power Solutions, Inc.
- Mercury Systems, Inc.
- Karman Holdings Inc.
Its investment theses
- CareDx, Inc.Sep 2026CareDx provides transplant rejection diagnostic testing, and its favorable CMS reimbursement outcome validated the fund's variant perception versus the market.
- Dynatrace, Inc.Sep 2026Dynatrace's consumption-priced AI observability software is a durable picks-and-shovels beneficiary of enterprise AI adoption with accelerating ARR growth.
- Rubrik, Inc.Sep 2026Rubrik's unified cyber resilience platform is a direct beneficiary of rising security spending, with reaccelerating subscription ARR and expanding margins.
- Forgent Power Solutions, Inc.Sep 2026Forgent makes custom engineered-to-order electrical distribution equipment, taking share with leading lead times and poised for years of growth and margin expansion.
- Loar Holdings Inc.Sep 2026Loar's mission-critical aerospace components offer latent pricing power and a strong new product pipeline supporting outperformance versus peers.
- Jersey Mike's Subs Inc.Sep 2026Jersey Mike's is a fast-growing, capital-light franchisor with a hard-to-replicate model, high franchisee returns, and a long unit growth runway at an attractive valuation.
- Reformation Inc.Sep 2026Reformation's data-driven, fast-turn product model drives full-price sales and loyalty, with a long store and category growth runway at a discount valuation.
- Lyntris Inc.Sep 2026Lyntris is a sole-sourced defense solutions provider with capable management, ~30% growth, expanding margins, and a compelling valuation at 11x EBITDA.
- Samsara Inc.Jun 2026Samsara Inc. offers fleet and industrial operations software with a strong data moat, long growth runway, and improving operating leverage.
- SiTime CorporationJun 2026SiTime Corporation designs MEMS-based timing solutions and is expected to keep growing rapidly as its unique products gain share and benefit from AI-related data center demand.