Baron Fund, an investment management company, released its Q4 2025 letter for “Baron Partners Fund”. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. The Fund increased considerably in the fourth quarter, returning 19.07% (Institutional Shares). It outperformed both the Russell Midcap Growth Index (the Benchmark), which returned -3.70%, and the broader Russell 3000 Index, which returned 2.40% in the quarter. The Fund returned 24.86% in the calendar year, significantly outperforming the Russell Midcap Growth Index, which posted a return of 8.66%, and the Russell 3000 Index, which returned 17.15%. The Fund focuses on long-term investments in a non-diversified portfolio of well-managed growth businesses at attractive prices across market caps. It has consistently delivered strong absolute and relative performance over the long term. The Fund has seen substantial appreciation during good times and has preserved value during challenging periods. Please review the Fund’s top five holdings to gain insights into their key selections for 2025.
In its fourth-quarter 2025 investor letter, Baron Partners Fund highlighted stocks like Gartner, Inc. (NYSE:IT). Established in 1979, Gartner, Inc. (NYSE:IT) is a research and advisory company that operates through research, conferences, and consulting segments. The one-month return of Gartner, Inc. (NYSE:IT) was -33.08%, and its shares lost 68.88% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On February 10, 2026, Gartner, Inc. (NYSE:IT) stock closed at $159.89 per share, with a market capitalization of $12.109 billion.
Baron Partners Fund stated the following regarding Gartner, Inc. (NYSE:IT) in its fourth quarter 2025 investor letter:
“Gartner, Inc. (NYSE:IT), a provider of syndicated research, declined following decelerating contract value (CV) growth. We attribute most of the slowdown in CV growth to cost cutting in the U.S. public sector, which is around 5% of revenue. Industries that are dependent on public sector funding, such as education, also saw a more challenging business environment. The significant reduction in contract renewals is unsustainable, in our opinion. We believe many of these contracts will be reinstituted in the coming quarters and years.
