Baron Global Durable Advantage ETF

NVIDIA Corporation (NVDA) sells semiconductors, systems, and software for accelerated computing, gaming, and generative AI.
Computing demand has been doubling every one to two years, driven by electrification, digitization, and recent advancements in AI, yet supply growth has decelerated dramatically due to the slowdown in Moore's law. NVIDIA’s accelerated computing architecture enables continued growth in computing capacity through parallelization. We are at the tipping point of a new era in computing, with NVIDIA at its epicenter as generative AI adoption grows. With leading market share in gaming, data centers, and autonomous machines, we think NVIDIA is well positioned for long-term growth.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited (TSM), known as TSMC, is the world's largest independent semiconductor foundry, manufacturing chips on behalf of other companies.
TSMC is the dominant force in leading-edge semiconductor foundry manufacturing, as it benefits from economies of scale and a superior cost structure. The company's successful track record of deploying new technology faster than competitors helps it maintain market share and pricing power. We believe TSMC’s investments in advanced nodes will strengthen its market leadership and support long-term profitability.

Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN) is an e-commerce pioneer, innovator, and market share leader with a relentless focus on providing value and convenience to its customers. Amazon also operates the industry-leading cloud infrastructure business Amazon Web Services (AWS). 
Amazon's market share of U.S. online retail sales is around 40%, while its share of global retail sales is less than 5%. Amazon has many avenues for revenue growth, including consumer staples, international expansion, grocery, digital media offerings, private label, pharmacy and health care services, advertising, and a better shopping experience powered by generative AI. Amazon also represents an opportunity to invest in the secular growth of cloud computing and the adoption of enterprise AI through AWS — a large, fast-growing, and margin-accretive part of the business. 

Visa Inc. (V) is a leading global payment network. The company authorizes and facilitates electronic payments for consumers, merchants, and banks.
Visa benefits from consumer spending growth and the secular shift from cash to electronic payments. Most of its revenue comes from international markets, where consumer spending and the adoption rate of electronic payments are rising quickly. The company generates significant free cash flow, which is being returned to shareholders through dividends and share repurchases. We believe Visa enjoys significant competitive advantages from its well-established brand, ubiquitous merchant acceptance network, and extensive banking relationships.

Alphabet Inc. (GOOGL) is the parent of Google, the world's most dominant online search provider. Other services and products include display advertising, Android, Chrome, Google Cloud, Google Maps, Google Play, and YouTube. Its Other Bets segment consists of businesses such as Waymo, CapitalG, and Verily.
Alphabet has been the largest beneficiary of a secular shift in advertising from traditional media to online and mobile. The company has processed and indexed more data than any other company, leveraging its large datasets to improve its products and expand into adjacent markets. Subsidiaries Google Cloud and YouTube give Alphabet exposure to the transition toward cloud computing and connected TV, while Waymo remains a leader in autonomous driving. Alphabet has tremendous scale, distribution, and talent. We are monitoring how AI could disrupt or create new opportunities.

S&P Global Inc. (SPGI) provides credit ratings, indexes, data, and analytics to the financial, transportation, and commodities markets.
S&P Global benefits from the secular growth of rated bond issuance, the ongoing shift from active to passive investing, and growing demand for data and analytics. The company operates in oligopoly markets, where it enjoys formidable competitive advantages from strong brand awareness, high switching costs, and network effects. Excess cash flow is being used for accretive acquisitions and is being returned to shareholders through share repurchases and dividends.

Brookfield Corporation (BN) is one of the world's largest alternative asset managers, with $1 trillion in assets under management (AUM) and more than $500 billion in fee-generating AUM. It owns stakes in several publicly listed affiliates as well as other unlisted investments.
Brookfield Corporation's stake in listed companies, including Brookfield Infrastructure, Business Partners, Renewable Partners, and recently spun off Brookfield Asset Management, is worth $45 per share. We see another $25 per share in unlisted investments and $10 per share in carried interest generated for a total of $80 per share, well above the stock's current price. We think the company will profit from growth in alternative asset management, given its superior track record, highly respected CEO, global reach, scale, and diverse product offerings.

HDFC Bank Limited (HDFCB.IN) is one of India's largest and most recognized private sector banks, offering a broad range of financial services to retail and commercial clients. It merged with parent company HDFC Ltd. in July 2023.
We see HDFC Bank as the best quality play in Indian financials, given its history of consistent returns and best-in-class management. The bank has a solid deposit franchise and healthy asset quality, which gives it a competitive advantage in funding. HDFC Bank’s significant investments in technology place it as a leader in digital banking, which should drive continued market share expansion and efficiency improvements.

Meta Platforms, Inc. (META) owns Facebook, the world's largest social network, with over 3 billion monthly and over 2 billion daily active users. Instagram, Messenger, WhatsApp, and Oculus are also part of the Meta Platforms network, with over 3.4 billion total daily unique users across Meta products.
Meta owns unique social platforms with users that continue to demonstrate stickiness and high engagement. Advertisers want to be where users are, and Meta's ability to analyze, target, and show clear, demonstrable, and rising returns on investment makes the platform particularly attractive. We believe the company has significant room to further monetize its vast customer base, especially internationally. In addition, we see significant positive optionality from monetization opportunities in generative AI features, video, WhatsApp, business messaging, and smart glasses.

ASML Holding N.V. (ASML) designs and manufactures semiconductor production equipment. It is the dominant provider of photolithography equipment, where light sources are used to photo-reactively create patterns on wafers that ultimately become printed circuits.
ASML is the clear leader in the photolithography space, with its equipment used by nearly all major semiconductor manufacturers. The company holds over 80% market share in deep ultraviolet photolithography and 100% market share in extreme ultraviolet systems—critical tools that enable continued improvement in chip performance, efficiency, and cost as transitor sizes shrink. In our view, ASML's next-generation high-NA EUV will extend its technological advantage and positions the company for continued lithography dominance at the leading edge of semiconductor production.

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