With the unfortunate performance of the mutual fund industry over the past five years, it would be easy to miss the fact that there are funds out there still making investors money. But there are — and SmartMoney Magazine has ranked them to come up with The Top 100 Mutual Funds.
Its methodology?
“SmartMoney asked Morningstar for a list of the top-performing funds over the past five years from four separate categories: U.S. Stocks, Foreign Stocks, Bonds and Alternatives. From there, (it) whittled down the list, eliminating funds that charge high annual expenses and have high minimum investments. (It) also wanted to highlight funds that any investor can get into, so (it) took out funds that are only available in retirement plans or are closed to new investors.”
Straight from the SmartMoney list, we’ve highlighted one top mutual fund from each category:
U.S. STOCK FUNDS
Fidelity OTC Portfolio (MUTF:FOCPX)
Manager: Gavin Baker
Assets: $7.1 billion
Top Holdings: Apple (NYSE:AAPL), Google (NYSE:GOOG)
1-Year Return (%): 7.1
5-Year Annual Average Return (%): 6.3
Expenses per $10,000: 92
FOREIGN STOCK FUNDS
Westcore International Small-Cap (MUTF:WTIFX)
Managers: Jeremy Duhon and John Fenley
Assets: $134 million
Top holdings: IG Group, Credit Corp Group
1-Year Return (%): 2.6
5-Year Annual Average Return (%): 2.8
Expenses per $10,000: 150
TAXABLE BOND FUNDS
Dreyfus International Bond (MUTF:DIBAX)
Manager: Dave Leduc
Assets: $1.3 billion
Top holdings: Government debt of Sweden and Japan
1-Year Return (%): 4.3
5-Year Annual Average Return (%): 9.1
Expenses per $10,000: 109
ALTERNATIVE FUNDS
Permanent Portfolio (MUTF:PRPFX)
Manager: Michael Cuggino
Assets: $15.4 billion
Top holdings: U.S. Treasurys, gold
1-Year Return (%): 8.1
5-Year Annual Average Return (%): 8.7
Expenses per $10,000: 77
Visit SmartMoney for more details on these funds, and to see the complete list.