Baron Funds, an investment management company, released an investor letter to its "fintech Baron Fund" in the first quarter of 2025. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. It fell sharply in March, with U.S. stocks down 5% in the first quarter. When the market started, the S&P 500, the most developed market, reached a new high. But concerns about tariffs, inflation and gentle economic growth, as well as concerns about secular growth in AI have led to risk conditions. In the first quarter, the fund fell 1.31% (institutional stocks), while the Factset Global Fintech index (benchmark) had a return of -7.52%, and the S&P 500 fell -4.27%. Since its inception, the fund has appreciated annually at 11.27% annually, while the benchmark earnings are 2.22%. Also, check the fund’s top five holdings to see its best options for 2025.

In its first-quarter 2025 investor letter, the Baron Fintech Fund highlighted stocks such as TradeWeb Markets Inc. (NASDAQ:TW). TradeWeb Markets Inc. (NASDAQ:TW) is a global financial technology company that builds and operates electronic markets. TradeWeb Markets Inc. (NASDAQ:TW) has a one-month return of 7.64%, and its stock has accounted for 29.73% of its value over the past 52 weeks. On May 23, 2025, TradeWeb Markets Inc. (NASDAQ:TW) stock closed at $145.62 per share, with a market value of $318.09 billion.

The FinTech Foundation pointed out the following about TradeWeb Markets Inc. (NASDAQ:TW) in its 2025 investor letter in its Q1 Investor Letter:

“ TradeWeb Markets Inc. (NASDAQ: TW) operates the electronic market for fixed income securities. Stocks rose in the quarter due to favorable market conditions and increased share of key products. The growth of credit products accelerated, with transaction volumes rising by 39%, while the trend of interest rate products stabilized, up by 14%. On the credit side, TradeWeb is growing faster than the market and its major electronic trading competitors. We believe that TradeWeb can achieve solid growth under various macroeconomic conditions and expect further market share growth to drive long-term gains. We continue to own the stock due to TradeWeb's strong network effects, a long history of innovation, and the continued electronic opportunities in the capital market. ”

Commodity traders focus on online trading platforms and study trading opportunities.

TradeWeb Markets Inc. (NASDAQ:TW) is not among the 30 most popular stocks in our hedge funds. According to our database, at the end of the first quarter, 35 hedge fund portfolios held TradeWeb Markets Inc. (NASDAQ:TW) and was 45 in the previous quarter. Although we acknowledge the potential of TradeWeb Markets Inc. (NASDAQ:TW) as an investment, our belief is that AI stocks have greater hope to deliver higher returns and do so in a shorter time frame. If you are looking for AI stocks that are as promising as NVIDIA, but whose earnings are trading at less than 5 times the price, check out our report on undervalued AI stocks.