Fund Evaluator:

Baron Durable Advantage Retail Overview

Baron Durable Advantage Retail (BDAFX) is an actively managed U.S. Equity Large Growth fund. Baron Capital Group, Inc. launched the fund in 2017.

The investment seeks capital appreciation through investments primarily in securities of large-sized companies. The fund invests primarily in equity securities in the form of common stock of U.S. large-sized companies. The Adviser seeks to invest primarily in what the adviser believes are unique, well-managed, competitively advantaged businesses that generate significant excess free cash flow that is consistently returned to shareholders in the form of stock buybacks and/or dividends.

About Baron Durable Advantage Retail (BDAFX)

There are 1 members of the management team with an average tenure of 8.51 years: Alex Umansky (2017). Management tenure is more important for actively managed funds than passive index funds.

The fund has 1 primary benchmark: S&P 500 (TR) (1970) index with a weighting of 100%. Baron Durable Advantage Retail has 31 securities in its portfolio. The top 10 holdings constitute 59.0% of the fund’s assets. The fund meets the SEC requirement of being classified as a diversified fund. The fund is not considered to have an ESG focus with its investment selection and management.

Baron Durable Advantage Retail is part of the Equity global asset class and is within the U.S. Equity fund group. Baron Durable Advantage Retail has 11.0% of its portfolio invested in foreign issues. The overall assets allocated to domestic stock is 88.3%. There is 11.0% allocated to foreign stock, and 0.0% is allocated to preferred stocks. The bond allocation as a percentage of total assets is 0.0% (0.0% domestic bond, 0.0% foreign bond and 0.0% convertible bond). Baron Durable Advantage Retail has 0.7% of the portfolio in cash.

Assets Under Management

The fund has $86 million in total assets, which is below the $2 billion average for the Large Growth category. Normally, lower assets under management translates to higher average expense ratios, and greater total assets are desired. However, for some investment categories, such as small-cap investing, it may be difficult for the manager to fully employ the desired active strategy if assets grow too large or too quickly.

BDAFX Performance and Fees

The expense ratio measures how much of a fund’s assets are used for administrative expenses and operating expenses, including adviser fees and fees for the transfer agent and custodial services. The Baron Durable Advantage Retail expense ratio is high compared to funds in the Large Growth category. Baron Durable Advantage Retail has an expense ratio of 0.95%, which is 1% lower than its category average, making the fund expense ratio grade a C. While it is difficult to predict returns, it is known that high annual expense ratios reduce your rate of return, and excessive fees are difficult to overcome. Active management normally comes with higher expense ratios than passive index management. Certain investment categories such as small company and foreign also normally have higher expense ratios. It is best to compare fund expense ratios against the category averages for meaningful assessments.

High portfolio turnover can translate to higher expenses and lower aftertax returns. Baron Durable Advantage Retail has a portfolio turnover rate of 13%, indicating that holds its assets around 0.1 years. By way of comparison, the average portfolio turnover is 54% for the Large Growth category.

Recently, in the month of June 2026, Baron Durable Advantage Retail returned -3.2%, which earned it a grade of F, as the Large Growth category had an average return of -1.3%. The letter grades of A, B, C, D and F are based upon relative rankings within the investment category. A grade of A, for example, would indicate that the return is in the highest 20% for that time period compared to all funds in that category.

Baron Durable Advantage Retail has a trailing yield of 0.00%, which is below the 0.06% category average. The fund normally distributes its income annually.

It’s natural to seek the best-performing investments, but you must consider the relationship between risk and return and the impact of costs and taxes on your realized returns.

Baron Durable Advantage Retail Grades

Year to date, the fund has returned 3.3%, 3.8 percentage points worse than the category, which translates into a grade of D. The fund has returned 11.8% over the past year (grade of D), 19.9% over the past three years (grade of C) and 13.4% per year over the past five years (grade of A).

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