Here are the best of the best. You'll discover a gold mine of ideas in these rankings of the top-performing funds of the past one, three, five, ten and 20 years, in 14 investment categories.
AGGRESSIVE GROWTH
These funds require a go-go market to get proper traction, and they had one this past year--at least until recently. Some one-year winners, such as the Van Wagoner funds, have miserable longer-term records. Longer-term winners reflect good staying power. Rydex OTC tracks the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 index, with spectacular results the past five years. Janus Twenty underwent a manager change in mid 1997 (see "A Fund Family on Fire," page 66), but newbie Scott Schoelzel is, if anything, more aggressive than the person he replaced. Alger Capital Appreciation reflects the skills of veteran David Alger, but a cheaper way to ride his horse is to avoid this broker-sold fund and go to no-load Spectra fund, also run by Alger in the same manner and with comparable results the past five years.
1 YEAR
1. ProFund UltraOTC Inv 136.3%
2. Van Wagoner Post Venture 112.9
3. Grand Prix 98.0
4. Van Wagoner Emerging Growth 90.0
5. Potomac OTC Plus 89.6
6. TCW/DW Mid Cap Equity B 83.4
7. TCW Galileo Aggressive Growth 81.3
8. Rydex OTC 74.4
9. Van Wagoner Mid Cap 67.5
10. BlackRock Micro Cap A 67.5
CATEGORY AVERAGE 7.1%
3 YEARS
1. Rydex OTC 45.1%
2. Janus Twenty(**) 39.5
3. MFS Strategic Growth A 35.9
4. Delaware Aggressive Gro A 34.0
5. Rydex Nova 31.9
6. Janus Mercury 30.3
7. UAM Analytic Enhanced Equity 29.4
8. MAS Mid Cap Value Instl 27.7
9. Robertson Stephens Emerging Gro A 27.3
10. TCW Galileo Aggressive Growth 27.0
CATEGORY AVERAGE 10.5%
5 YEARS
1. Rydex OTC 40.9%
2. Alger Capital Appreciation B 33.9
3. Janus Twenty(**) 33.6
4. Janus Mercury 30.9
5. Rydex Nova 30.9
6. Delaware Aggressive Gro A 30.6
7. Spectra([dagger]) 30.6
8. MAS Mid Cap Growth Instl 28.3
9. TIP Turner Small Cap Growth 27.8
10. Robertson Stephens Emerging Gro A 26.7
CATEGORY AVERAGE 16.6%
10 YEARS
1. Spectra([dagger]) 24.5%
2. Janus Twenty(**) 23.5
3. Van Kampen Emerging Growth A 21.4
4. Robertson Stephens Emerging Gro A 21.1
5. MFS Emerging Growth B 20.7
6. American Century Ultra 20.6
7. Invesco Dynamics 20.1
8. United New Concepts A (Waddell) 19.8
9. AIM Aggressive Growth A(**) 18.8
10. FPA Capital(**) 18.6
CATEGORY AVERAGE 14.0%
20 YEARS
1. Spectra([dagger]) 22.4%
2. Putnam Voyager A 19.0
3. Van Kampen Emerging Growth A 18.6
4. Putnam Vista A 18.0
5. Delaware Trend A 17.5
6. Fortis Growth A 17.4
7. Value Line Leveraged Growth 17.2
8. Seligman Capital A 16.9
9. Invesco Dynamics 16.6
10. Founders Special 15.1
CATEGORY AVERAGE 15.2%
(**) Closed to new investors.
([dagger]) Returns to June 1; Spectra had been a closed-end fund.
SOURCE: STANDARD & POOR'S MICROPAL
INTERNATIONAL - SPECIALIZED
The Road Runner award for the past 12 months goes to Matthews Korea, which tripled investors' money. But the Korean stock market had fallen so far that this fund's three-year return is still in negative territory. The European funds that dominated the one-year winners a year ago treaded water. Now it's Asian funds' turn to shine and, like Matthews Korea, virtually all are merely making up for stupendous losses they incurred the past couple of years.
And that's the problem: Over time, these funds go down almost as much as they go up, leaving you with puny long-term returns, as the list of ten-year winners so aptly demonstrates. The lesson here may be to stick to diversified funds when you invest in overseas companies. Otherwise, you're just spinning the roulette wheel.
1 YEAR
1. Matthews Korea I 211.4%
2. Fidelity Japan Small Co 115.6
3. Van Eck Asia Dynasty A 103.5
4. Matthews Pacific Tiger 95.8
5. Montgomery Emerging Asia R 83.4
6. Pioneer Indo-Asia A 82.4
7. Warburg Pincus Japan Sm Co Cmn 73.7
8. Deutsche Top 50 Asia A 73.6
9. Fidelity Southeast Asia 69.6
10. Ivy Asia Pacific A 69.5
CATEGORY AVERAGE 19.4%
3 YEARS
1. Fidelity Nordic 24.4%
2. Scudder Greater Europe Growth 22.7
3. Vanguard Intl Index European 22.5
4. Merrill Lynch EuroFund B 22.4
5. Chase Vista European A 21.3
6. Fidelity Europe Capital Apprec 20.4
7. Putnam Europe Growth A 20.2
8. Prime Upper Europe Equity Retail 19.7
9. J.P. Morgan European Equity 19.3
10. Prudential Europe Growth A 19.1
CATEGORY AVERAGE 1.2%
5 YEARS
1. Morgan Stanley DW Euro Gro B 19.7%
2. Putnam Europe Growth A 19.6
3. Vanguard Intl Index European 19.6
4. T. Rowe Price European Stock 18.6
5. Wright EquiFund Netherlands 18.5
6. Pioneer Europe A 18.2
7. Fidelity Europe 18.1
8. Merrill Lynch EuroFund 8 18.1
9. Alliance New Europe A 16.8
10. Invesco European 16.6
CATEGORY AVERAGE 2.8%
10 YEARS
1. Merrill Lynch EuroFund B 14.5%
2. Fidelity Europe 13.3
3. Invesco European 12.4
4. Merrill Lynch Pacific Fund A(**) 9.7
5. AIM Europe Growth A 7.0
6. Fidelity Canada 5.9
7. J. Hancock Pacific Basin Equity A 5.1
8. Fidelity Pacific Basin 4.1
9. Nomura Pacific Basin 3.9
10. Japan Fund 3.0
CATEGORY AVERAGE 6.9%
20 YEARS
1. AIM New Pacific Gro A 8.3%
2. Lexington Worldwide Emerging Mkts(*) 6.9
CATEGORY AVERAGE 7.7%
(*) Adopted its present investment focus in 1991
(**) Closed to new investors.
SOURCE: STANDARD & POOR'S MICROPAL
GLOBAL
Here's where you go for the ultimate geographic diversification, in stocks of both U.S. and non-U.S. companies. One-year and three-year winner Pilgrim America World Growth recently had half of its assets in U.S. stocks. It looks for rapidly growing companies--many of them not so large--and judging by its sky-high average price-earnings ratio, it isn't afraid to pay dearly to own them. Dreyfus Premier Worldwide Growth, number one for the past five years, stakes out huge companies when their P/Es are reasonable and holds them indefinitely. Janus Worldwide, number two for five years, owns faster-growing companies than the other two funds and is the least attached to U.S. stocks. The Dreyfus fund is less wedded to volatile technology stocks than the Pilgrim America or Janus entries.
Continued from page 1.
1 YEAR
1. Pilgrim America World Gro A 36.2%
2. Warburg Pincus Global Post Common 29.1
3. Maxus Laureate Inv 28.1
4. Gabelli Global Opportunity 25.0
5. American New Perspective 24.2
6. Deutsche Top 50 World A 22.0
7. Citizens Global Equity 21.7
8. Oppenheimer Global Gro & Inc A 20.8
9. Putnam Diversified Equity Trust A 19.4
10. Montgomery Global Opps R 16.3
CATEGORY AVERAGE 6.8%
3 YEARS
1. Pilgrim America World Gro A 25.9%
2. Oppenheimer Global Gro & Inc A 24.3
3. Dreyfus Premier Worldwide Gro A 22.2
4. American New Perspective 21.6
5. Citizens Global Equity 21.0
6. Janus Worldwide 20.3
7. Idex JCC Global A 19.6
8. American Capital World Gro & Inc 19.3
9. Putnam Diversified Equity Trust A 19.3
10. Montgomery Global Opps R 19.2
CATEGORY AVERAGE 11.9%
5 YEARS
1. Dreyfus Premier Worldwide Gro A 21.4%
2. Janus Worldwide 20.9
3. Pilgrim America World Gro A 20.6
4. Idex JCC Global A 19.9
5. American New Perspective 19.0
6. Oppenheimer Global Gro & Inc A 18.5
7. Phoenix-Engemann Global Gro A 18.4
8. American Capital World Gro & Inc 18.0
9. Montgomery Global Opps R 17.2
10. API Capital Income 16.9
CATEGORY AVERAGE 12.3%
10 YEARS
1. American New Perspective 15.9%
2. Oppenheimer Global A 14.1
3. Merrill Lynch Global Alloc A(**) 14.0
4. Templeton Growth A 13.5
5. Templeton World A 13.3
6. Putnam Global Growth A 12.7
7. Amer Express IDS Managed Alloc A 12.5
8. Scudder Global 12.4
9. Evergreen Global Opportunities A 12.3
10. MFS Global Equity B 11.5
CATEGORY AVERAGE 10.2%
20 YEARS
1. American New Perspective 17.0%
2. Oppenheimer Global A 17.0
3. Putnam Global Growth A 15.8
4. Templeton Growth A 15.1
5. Phoenix Worldwide Opportunities A 12.3
6. Alliance Global Small Cap A 10.9
CATEGORY AVERAGE 15.1%
(**) Closed to new investors.
SOURCE: STANDARD & POOR'S MICROPAL
LONG - TERM GROWTH
These are the funds that should give moderately aggressive investors a good ride over time, without vicious volatility, and the best of them have delivered the goods this past year. Many winners got there by putting their chips beside large tech companies, such as Dell Computer, Cisco Systems, Intel and Microsoft. Such funds include Janus Olympus, Reynolds Blue Chip Growth and Transamerica Premier Equity. Others--such as Fidelity New Millennium and White Oak Growth--could as easily be called aggressive-growth funds.
The oddball is Legg Mason Value, which looks for large companies that manager William Miller thinks could fetch a far higher price in a buyout. Miller bought such hot shots as America Online and Dell when they were outcasts, and never really let go, to great effect.
1 YEAR
1. Jundt Twenty-Five A 70.6%
2. Pilgrim Large Cap Growth A 69.6
3. WM Growth A 60.9
4. Millennium Growth 60.3
5. Janus Olympus 57.1
6. Managers Capital Appreciation 56.1
7. Fidelity New Millennium(**) 55.9
8. Excelsior Large Cap Growth 51.1
9. Reynolds Opportunity 47.9
10. Phoenix-Goodwin Strategic Theme A 47.6
CATEGORY AVERAGE 14.1%
3 YEARS
1. Legg Mason Value P 41.2%
2. Weitz Hickory(**) 37.8
3. Reynolds Blue Chip Growth 35.3
4. Transamerica Premier Equity 33.8
5. Pioneer Growth Shares A 33.6
6. Alliance Premier Growth A 32.2
7. Massachusetts Investors Growth A 32.2
8. Citizens Index Retail 31.1
9. Janus Olympus 30.8
10. Vanguard Growth Index 30.4
CATEGORY AVERAGE 19.1%
5 YEARS
1. Legg Mason Value P 34.7%
2. Fidelity New Millennium(**) 32.7
3. White Oak Growth 32.6
4. Reynolds Blue Chip Growth 31.1
5. Weitz Hickory(**) 30.4
6. Pioneer Growth Shares A 30.0
7. Alliance Premier Growth A 29.6
8. Fidelity Dividend Growth 29.1
9. Vanguard Growth Index 29.0
10. Idex JCC Growth A 28.9
CATEGORY AVERAGE 20.1%
10 YEARS
1. Fidelity Contrafund(**) 22.0%
2. Fidelity Blue Chip Growth 20.9
3. Harbor Capital Appreciation 20.6
4. Legg Mason Value P 20.4
5. AIM Value A 20.1
6. Alger Growth B 20.0
7. Fidelity Destiny Plan II 19.9
8. Idex JCC Growth A 19.9
9. MainStay Capital Appreciation B 19.8
10. Pioneer Growth Shares A 19.8
CATEGORY AVERAGE 15.1%
20 YEARS
1. Fidelity Magellan(**) 24.0%
2. Davis New York Venture A 20.4
3. Janus Fund 20.3
4. Amer Express IDS New Dimensions A 20.2
5. Fidelity Destiny Plan I 20.1
6. Amer Express IDS Growth A 20.0
7. AIM Weingarten A 19.9
8. New England Growth A 19.7
9. Sequoia(**) 19.4
10. Fidelity Contrafund(**) 18.8
CATEGORY AVERAGE 17.1%
(**) Closed to new investors.
SOURCE: STANDARD & POOR'S MICROPAL
GROWTH & INCOME
Beware some wolves in sheep's clothing. Growth-and-income funds evoke images of steady-as-you-go, even staid investing. But one-year runner-up Ameritor Security Trust has more than 40% of assets in just three hot stocks (Microsoft, MCI WorldCom and Intel), IPS Millennium filled half of its portfolio with technology issues, and even Janus Equity Income, with less than half its assets in stocks, puts a lot on the line with technology names.
Of special note: Vanguard 500 Index, on its way to becoming the biggest fund in the world, and Domini Social Equity, which is an index fund for the socially conscious. Less volatile than these is Safeco Equity, whose largest holdings include Chase Manhattan and Kimberly-Clark, in addition to the usual tech stocks.
Continued from page 2.
1 YEAR
1. IPS Millennium 54.9%
2. Ameritor Security Trust 48.8
3. Janus Equity Income 40.7
4. Ameritor Investment(**) 39.6
5. Trainer Wortham First Mutual 38.7
6. Flex-Fund Muirfield 36.1
7. Northstar Gro + Value A 33.9
8. MainStay Instl Equity Income A 31.4
9. Strong Total Return 30.2
10. Strong Blue Chip 100 Fund 30.1
CATEGORY AVERAGE 11.2%
3 YEARS
1. IPS Millennium 31.3%
2. SSgA Growth & Income 29.7
3. Ameristock Mutual Fund 28.8
4. Janus Growth & Income 28.5
5. Selected American Shares 28.3
6. Domini Social Equity 28.2
7. Green Century Equity 27.6
8. Strong Growth & Income 27.3
9. Pioneer Fund A 27.2
10. Nationwide D(**) 27.1
CATEGORY AVERAGE 18.5%
5 YEARS
1. Janus Growth & Income 27.1%
2. Trainer Wortham First Mutual 25.8
3. Domini Social Equity 25.7
4. Smith Breeden US Market Plus 25.6
5. Alleghany Chicago Trust Gro & Inc 25.6
6. Vanguard 500 Index 25.5
7. Principal Preservation S&P 100 Plus 25.4
8. S&P 500 Index (CCM Partners) 25.3
9. SSgA S&P 500 Index 25.3
10. BT Equity 500 Index 25.3
CATEGORY AVERAGE 18.7%
10 YEARS
1. Oppenheimer Main St Inc & Gro A 21.7%
2. Chase Vista Growth & Income A 18.9
3. Kemper-Dreman High Return A 18.2
4. Safeco Equity 18.2
5. Fidelity Growth & Income(**) 18.2
6. Vanguard Growth & Income 17.7
7. J.P. Morgan US Equity 17.7
8. Vanguard 500 Index 17.6
9. Invesco Blue Chip Growth 17.2
10. Massachusetts Investors A 17.1
CATEGORY AVERAGE 13.8%
20 YEARS
1. Washington Mutual Investors 18.0%
2. Fidelity Equity Income 17.6
3. Van Kampen Comstock A 17.5
4. American Fundamental Investors 17.4
5. Fidelity Fund 17.4
6. Vanguard 500 Index 17.2
7. American Investment Co of Amer 17.2
8. Vanguard Windsor 17.2
9. Putnam for Growth & Income A 16.8
10. Safeco Equity 16.6
CATEGORY AVERAGE 15.5%
(**) Closed to new investors.
SOURCE: STANDARD & POOR'S MICROPAL
BALANCED
Funds in this category own both stocks and bonds, usually in some fixed proportion--the idea being that you get capital growth from the stocks, and income and stability from the bonds. Bond yields aren't much to brag about, and no downturn in stocks during the 1990s has lasted more than a few months. So it should come as no surprise that winning funds here tend to be top-heavy in stocks. Oppenheimer Quest Balanced is only one-third invested in bonds and is tilted toward technology stocks, as are the Alger, Janus and Transamerica entries in this field.
Less daring are Dodge & Cox Balanced, Fidelity Balanced and socially sensitive Pax World, all of which manage good returns without sending the volatility meter into the red zone. This makes them ideal holdings.
1 YEAR
1. Oppenheimer Quest Blncd A 32.9%
2. Berger Balanced 30.9
3. Idex JCC Balanced A 27.0
4. Janus Balanced 26.2
5. Alger Balanced B 25.2
6. Leonetti Balanced 23.6
7. Pax World 20.7
8. Fidelity Balanced 19.2
9. Phoenix-Engemann Blncd Return A 17.3
10. WesMark Balanced 17.0
CATEGORY AVERAGE 8.4%
3 YEARS
1. Oppenheimer Quest Blncd A 26.7%
2. Transamerica Premier Balanced 23.9
3. Idex JCC Balanced A 22.7
4. Janus Balanced 22.6
S. Flag Investors Value Builder A 21.5
6. Fidelity Balanced 20.9
7. Pax World 20.4
8. Alger Balanced B 19.6
9. Alleghany/Montag & Caldwell Blncd 19.5
10. Alleghany Chicago Asset Allocation 19.4
CATEGORY AVERAGE 14.8%
5 YEARS
1. Oppenheimer Quest Blncd A 23.1%
2. Flag Investors Value Builder A 20.6
3. Janus Balanced 19.5
4. Pax World 19.3
5. Invesco Balanced 19.2
6. Alger Balanced B 18.7
7. Dreyfus Premier Balanced A 18.5
8. Phoenix-Engemann Blncd Return A 18.1
9. Mairs & Power Balanced(**) 17.9
10. Rainier Investment Balanced 17.7
CATEGORY AVERAGE 14.8%
10 YEARS
1. AIM Balanced A 14.6%
2. Dodge & Cox Balanced 13.7
3. Mairs & Power Balanced(**) 13.6
4. Phoenix-Engemann Blncd Return A 13.5
5. Pax World 13.3
6. Fidelity Puritan 13.3
7. MainStay Total Return B 13.3
8. Vanguard Wellington 13.3
9. CGM Mutual 13.1
10. Liberty-Colonial A 12.9
CATEGORY AVERAGE 11.9%
20 YEARS
1. Fidelity Puritan 15.7%
2. Vanguard Wellington 14.9
3. Delaware Balanced A 14.9
4. Liberty-Colonial A 14.5
5. Kemper Total Return A 14.5
6. MFS Total Return A 14.2
7. George Putnam Fund of Boston A 14.1
8. Phoenix-Goodwin Income & Gro A 13.8
9. Founders Balanced 13.4
10. New England Balanced A 13.1
CATEGORY AVERAGE 14.0%
(**) Closed to new investors.
SOURCE: STANDARD & POOR'S MICROPAL
INTERNATIONAL - DIVERSIFIED
Some good to excellent returns are once again flowing from international funds. A year ago the one-year winners were heavily invested in Europe. Investors would have been smart then to head toward the Pacific Rim because that's where a lot of the action has been lately. Interestingly, one-year winner Warburg Pincus International Small Company worked its wonders mostly in Europe and Japan. All of this points to a pothole awaiting international funds: Stock pickers not only have to find the right stocks, but they have to find them in the right countries. Having to be right twice puts a burden on managers, which may explain why those two perennial winners, American Century International Discovery and Janus Overseas, did poorly during the past 12 months.
