NET - Baron Fifth Avenue Growth Fund Q4 2023 Shareholder Letter

Baron Fifth

Avenue

Growth

Fund Retail

Shares[1],[2]

Baron Fifth

Avenue

Growth

Fund Institutional

Shares 1,2, [3]

Russell

1000

Growth

Index ¹

S&P

500

Index ¹

Three Months ⁴

17.54%

17.61%

14.16%

11.69%

One Year

57.20%

57.58%

42.68%

26.29%

Three Years

(4.87)%

(4.62)%

8.86%

10.00%

Five Years

11.65%

11.93%

19.50%

15.69%

Ten Years

10.75%

11.04%

14.86%

12.03%

Fifteen Years

13.20%

13.48%

16.68%

13.97%

Since Inception (April 30, 2004)

8.99%

9.19%

11.51%

9.86%

Performance listed in the table above is net of annual operating expenses. The gross annual expense ratio for the Retail and Institutional Shares as of September 30, 2023 was 1.06% and 0.78%, respectively, but the net annual expense ratio was 1.01% and 0.76% (net of the Adviser's fee waivers, comprised of operating expenses of 1.00% and 0.75%, respectively, and interest expense of 0.01% and 0.01%, respectively). The performance data quoted represents past performance. Past performance is no guarantee of future results. The investment return and principal value of an investment will fluctuate; an investor's shares, when redeemed, may be worth more or less than their original cost. The Adviser reimburses certain Fund expenses pursuant to a contract expiring on August 29, 2034, unless renewed for another 11-year term and the Fund's transfer agency expenses may be reduced by expense offsets from an unaffiliated transfer agent, without which performance would have been lower. Current performance may be lower or higher than the performance data quoted. For performance information current to the most recent month end, visit Baron Funds - Asset Management for Growth Equity Investments or call 1-800-99-BARON.

^† The Fund's 3- and 5-year historical performance was impacted by gains from IPOs and there is no guarantee that these results can be repeated or that the Fund's level of participation in IPOs will be the same in the future.

^[1] The Russell 1000® Growth Index measures the performance of large-sized U.S. companies that are classified as growth. The S&P 500 Index measures the performance of 500 widely held large-cap U.S. companies. All rights in the FTSE Russell Index (the "Index") vest in the relevant LSE Group company which owns the Index. Russell® is a trademark of the relevant LSE Group company and is used by any other LSE Group company under license. Neither LSE Group nor its licensors accept any liability for any errors or omissions in the indexes or data and no party may rely on any indexes or data contained in this communication. The Fund includes reinvestment of dividends, net of withholding taxes, while the Russell 1000® Growth Index and S&P 500 Index include reinvestment of dividends before taxes. Reinvestment of dividends positively impacts the performance results. The indexes are unmanaged. Index performance is not Fund performance. Investors cannot invest directly in an index.

^[2] The performance data in the table does not reflect the deduction of taxes that a shareholder would pay on Fund distributions or redemption of Fund shares.

^[3] Performance for the Institutional Shares prior to May 29, 2009 is based on the performance of the Retail Shares, which have a distribution fee. The Institutional Shares do not have a distribution fee. If the annual returns for the Institutional Shares prior to May 29, 2009 did not reflect this fee, the returns would be higher.

4 _{Not annualized.}