Baron Funds, an investment management company, released its “Baron Fifth Avenue Growth Fund” third-quarter 2025 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. In Q3 2025, the fund gained 5.7% (Institutional Shares) compared to the Russell 1000 Growth Index’s (R1KG) 10.5% gain and the S&P 500 Index’s (SPX) 8.1% return. The fund is up 14.4% YTD compared to 17.2% and 14.8% for the indexes. In addition, you can check the fund’s top 5 holdings to determine its best picks for 2025.

In its third-quarter 2025 investor letter, Baron Fifth Avenue Growth Fund highlighted stocks such as Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META). Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) is a technology company that develops products to connect people. The one-month return of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) was 2.16%, and its shares gained 4.44% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On December 01, 2025, Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) stock closed at $640.87 per share, with a market capitalization of $1.615 billion.

Baron Fifth Avenue Growth Fund stated the following regarding Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) in its third quarter 2025 investor letter:

“In addition to this trip, the quarterly earnings reporting season offered a flurry of data points supporting the significant opportunity behind AI in terms of both productivity enhancements and incremental revenues: • Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) reported quarterly revenue growth of 22% and highlighted AI as a tailwind to engagement and to advertiser’s return on ad spend, prompting the company to increase 2026 estimated capex expectations to $100 billion, $30 billion higher than Wall Street expectations. We thought Mark Zuckerberg’s comments regarding “Early glimpses of AI improving itself” were particularly insightful.8 If AI can improve itself, a self-reinforcing flywheel can emerge resulting in super-intelligence.”

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) is in the third position on our list of 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 273 hedge fund portfolios held Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) at the end of the third quarter, which was 260 in the previous quarter.  In the third quarter of 2025, Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) reported revenue of $51.2 billion, representing a 26% or 25% constant currency. While we acknowledge the potential of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) 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.