Most of those reading this have never heard of Baillie Gifford. The UK investment firm is not really a household name here in the United States.
Their oldest funds, Scottish Mortgage Trust and Monks Investment Trust, are investment trusts listed on the London Exchange and not available to US investors.
Ballie Gifford is one of the best growth investors in the world and has been almost form inception.
The firm was founded in 1907 when Lieutenant Colonel Augustus Baillie, a Boer War veteran, partnered with 27-year-old lawyer Carlyle Gifford. The two were not investment managers but merely opportunists who spotted a trend nobody else saw coming.
Henry Ford’s Model T was about to create massive demand for rubber tires, and Southeast Asian rubber planters needed capital.
The pair created the Straits Mortgage and Trust Company in 1909 to finance rubber plantations in Malaya and Ceylon.
The timing was perfect.
The automobile boom sent rubber prices soaring, and their first investment trust grew from £1 million in assets by 1925 to £4 million by 1929.
When the 1929 crash brought down banks and investment firms across the globe, Baillie Gifford didn’t just survive, they expanded. They took over three failed investment trusts and opened their first London office.
The pattern was set. Baillie Gifford would spot transformational trends early, hold through volatility, and expand when others retreat.
After World War II, while most British investors stayed home, Baillie Gifford made what might be their smartest strategic call ever. Led by investment manager George Chiene, they placed massive bets on post-war American growth.
The sterling devaluation in 1949 gave them their opening. Suddenly it was much easier to buy American assets. What followed was nothing short of spectacular: their net asset value multiplied more than six-fold between 1950 and 1965.
Think about that for a moment. While American investors were buying American stocks, a small Scottish firm was quietly accumulating the best American businesses and riding the greatest economic expansion in history. By 1957, over 44% of their assets were invested in the US and Canada.
The firm has not missed too many major trends in the global economy over the last 118 years.
They were early investors in both Japan and China and racked up huge profits for investors.
They were also ahead of the pack in every major tech trend over the last fifty years as well.
Baillie Gifford is a long-term owner of the companies it buys. As long as a company is growing and the underlying trend is intact, they hold the stock.
Over time some of the companies failed. Some early tech leaders get bought out. Some just faded into mediocrity
Shedding the losers and holding the winders for years and even decades has been the secret to the firms more than century of success.
A look at the firm's largest holding tells the story of long-term success.
Baillie Giffords first purchase of Mercado Libre MELI was in $2010 at around $50 a share.
The current price is more than 20 times higher.
Its first purchase of NVIDIA NVDA was at $.90 in 2016.
Safe to say the stock has done okay since then. The shares have gained almost 200 times the original cost.
The first purchase of Amazon AMZN was in 2004 at around $2. The price is currently 100X their original purchase price.
I could go on but I think you get my point. Ballie Gifford has made its investors tons of money by buying early in the trend and holding on through thick and thin if the fundamentals were strong.
The firm usually files its 13F early in the porting period and it attracts almost no attention. The firm is in Edinburgh, Scotland, 3300 miles from Wall Street and about 5500 from Silicon Valley.
As one who understands the power of combining fundamental momentum and time, I always check the filings to see what Baillie Gifford has been buying and selling. I look at the newer positions in stocks that do not yet have media panache and a faithful institutional following.
Some will drop back into mediocrity. Some will get taken over. There is a decent chance that one or two will keep growing for a very long period of time and deliver potentially life-changing wealth.
A few of their positions look to have the potential for massive long term gains and institutions are not yet heavily involved.
Tempus TEM represents the convergence of artificial intelligence and healthcare, positioned to fundamentally transform how medical decisions are made through data-driven insights.
Tempus delivered exceptional first quarter results with revenue surging 75.4% year-over-year to $255.7 million, significantly exceeding expectations and prompting management to raise full-year 2025 guidance to $1.25 billion, representing approximately 80% growth. The company reached an inflection point with its strategic $200 million agreement with AstraZeneca and Pathos AI spanning three years, validating its data and AI capabilities on a global scale. Most importantly, Tempus expects to achieve positive Adjusted EBITDA of $5 million for full year 2025, marking a crucial milestone in its journey toward profitability.
The Genomics segment continues to demonstrate remarkable strength, generating $193.8 million in the first quarter with 89% year-over-year growth driven by approximately 20% volume expansion across its testing portfolio. The high-margin Data Licensing business, centered on the Insights platform, accelerated with 58% growth as pharmaceutical and biotech companies increasingly rely on Tempus’s unique multimodal dataset for drug development and clinical trials. The strategic acquisition of Ambry Genetics significantly expands Tempus’s capabilities in hereditary testing, opening new market opportunities beyond oncology into cardiovascular and neurological conditions. Meanwhile, the integration of AI tools like Tempus One is driving operational efficiencies across laboratory operations while enhancing adoption among healthcare providers.
The global precision medicine market is projected to reach $217 billion by 2028. Tempus’s unique combination of the world’s largest multimodal healthcare dataset and AI capabilities positions it to capture significant market share as healthcare increasingly adopts data-driven treatment protocols.
Pony AI PONY offers pure-play exposure to the autonomous vehicle revolution, with operational robotaxi services in China and expanding global partnerships positioning it for the massive mobility transformation.
The autonomous mobility landscape is rapidly evolving in Pony AI’s favor, with reports suggesting that Uber founder Travis Kalanick is actively exploring the acquisition of the company’s US operations, which could provide immediate access to American markets and regulatory frameworks. The company recently received a critical permit for fully driverless commercial robotaxi services in Shanghai’s Pudong financial district, expanding its operational footprint in China’s most important financial center. Fleet expansion initiatives are accelerating across multiple cities, with management projecting this rapid scaling should drive approximately 180% year-over-year robotaxi service sales growth. Additionally, the Chinese government continues to provide strong policy support for mobility transformation initiatives, viewing autonomous driving as a strategic technology priority for national competitiveness.
Revenue growth is accelerating as analysts project significant increases driven by fleet scaling and service expansion. Wall Street maintains an average price target of $19.20, representing approximately 42% upside potential from current levels. The long-term opportunity appears substantial, with McKinsey projecting the autonomous mobility market could reach $1.3 trillion by 2030 as transportation undergoes fundamental transformation toward shared, autonomous systems.
Rocket Lab RKLB is positioned as the premier alternative to SpaceX in the rapidly expanding commercial space market, with end-to-end space services capabilities and strong competitive moats.
The much-anticipated Neutron rocket represents Rocket Lab’s most significant near-term catalyst, with the medium-lift vehicle expected to launch in late 2025 targeting a competitive $50-55 million price point that positions it directly against SpaceX’s Falcon 9 for medium payload missions. The company’s Space Systems division continues to expand rapidly, offering high-margin satellite manufacturing and space infrastructure services that provide recurring revenue streams beyond launch services. Government contracts are accelerating, particularly in national security applications, with the company securing a substantial $515 million contract with the Space Development Agency and positioning itself as a key contractor for defense-related space missions. The broader addressable market continues expanding dramatically, with McKinsey projecting that the space economy could reach $1.8 trillion by 2035, driven by satellite constellations, space manufacturing, and emerging applications in communications and Earth observation.
Rocket Lab has established itself as the second-most utilized launch provider in the United States after SpaceX, demonstrating consistent execution and reliability that has won the confidence of both commercial and government customers. The company’s strategy of vertical integration sets it apart from competitors, offering end-to-end capabilities from rocket manufacturing and launch services to satellite production and space systems, creating multiple touchpoints with customers and higher-margin service opportunities. The Electron rocket has built an impressive track record of proven reliability with consistent performance across dozens of missions, establishing trust with customers who require dependable access to space. Strategic partnerships across both government and commercial sectors provide diversified revenue streams and reduce dependence on any single customer or market segment, while also providing insights into emerging market needs and technological requirements.
BBB Foods TBBBrepresents a compelling growth opportunity in Mexico’s rapidly evolving retail landscape, operating the country’s leading hard discount grocery chain under the Tiendas 3B brand. Trading at $26.18, the company offers investors exposure to one of Mexico’s fastest-growing retail formats, with a proven business model that combines aggressive expansion, operational efficiency, and a deep understanding of value-conscious consumers.
BBB Foods operates through its flagship Tiendas 3B chain, whose name references “Bueno, Bonito y Barato” – a Mexican expression meaning “Good, Nice and Affordable.” This simple phrase encapsulates the company’s mission of delivering exceptional value to budget-conscious consumers through high-quality products at market-leading prices.
The company has pioneered and leads Mexico’s hard discount grocery model, a format that remains in early stages of development within the country’s modern retail channel. According to NielsenIQ data, hard discount formats represented only 3.0% of Mexican grocery market sales in 2023, despite the format’s proven success in mature markets globally. This creates a substantial runway for growth as Mexican consumers increasingly embrace organized retail over traditional informal channels.
The company’s expansion strategy centers on opening approximately one new store per day, a pace that has enabled BBB Foods to reach 2,772 stores by year-end 2024 from just over 2,000 stores two years earlier. Management has articulated an ambitious long-term vision of operating 20,000 stores across Mexico, representing nearly a seven-fold increase from current levels and highlighting the significant runway for growth.
Mexico’s grocery market represents approximately $125 billion in annual sales, with BBB Foods currently ranking as the fifth-largest chain by revenue and second largest by store count. The company operates primarily within the modern retail channel, which encompasses organized formats including discounters, hypermarkets, supermarkets, convenience stores, and warehouse clubs. This modern channel represented approximately $79 billion in sales for 2022 according to Euromonitor data, with discounters accounting for 30.5% of the segment.
The hard discount format’s growth potential is supported by favorable demographic trends including Mexico’s large population of budget-conscious consumers, ongoing urbanization that brings customers within reach of organized retail formats and changing shopping patterns that favor convenience and value. The company’s small-format stores, typically located within residential neighborhoods, enable customers to shop three to four times per week for immediate consumption needs while minimizing transportation requirements.
All these stocks have the potential to be huge winners. Not all of them will be.
It only takes one 100-bagger to change your financial conditions dramatically. Baillie Gifford has excelled at finding these massive winners in the past and I doubt they have lost their touch.
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