Fidelity Extends Lead in Top-Rated Funds

• ByKevin Baker, TheStreet.com Ratings Senior Financial Analyst
• On 5:00 am EDT, Friday October 23, 2009

BOSTON (TheStreet) -- Fidelity Investments increased the number of funds ranked in our third-quarter Top 200 Stock Mutual Funds list to 28 from 20. This biggest of 415 fund families with 662 rated funds earns its ninth consecutive "Ultra" Fund Family title.

Up from third place in June, the runner-up on our Top 200 list of A and A-plus rated funds, published in our Fall 2009 Guide to Stock Mutual Funds by Grey House Publishing, is Vanguard, with nine.

Honorable mentions go to Alliance Bernstein, a unit of Axa SA; John Hancock, a division of Manulife Financial; and Transamerica Funds, a subsidiary of Aegon NV. They tied for third place, each with six unique funds among the top 200.

We also publish a more comprehensive review of the fund families in which size matters less than overall results.

For a fund family to be considered an "Ultra" Fund Family, a company needs to place the highest percentage of funds ranked in the top 30% of all open-end funds in comparison with other fund families of similar size. The top 30% represents overall investment grades of A-plus down to B-minus. The middle 40% carry fund grades of C-plus, C and C-minus. D-plus and lower fall into the bottom 30%.

In this "Ultra" Fund Family competition, Van Kampen, a unit of Morgan Stanley, wins for the second consecutive quarter by having a higher share of its portfolio of funds ranked in the top 30%, or "buy" range, than any of the other fund families with 100 or more rated funds. Van Kampen boosted the percentage of its 171 rated funds in the top category to 57% from the previous quarter's 45%.

Up one spot to second place, T. Rowe Price scored 56% of its 116 rated offerings in the "buy" range of B-minus or better. The only other large fund family with more than half its funds rated at "buy" was MFS, a division of Sun Life Financial with 52.4% of its 315 funds ranked in the top 30%.

Fund Families With 100 or More Rated Funds Source: TheStreet.com Ratings

Of the 30 fund families with 40 to 99 rated funds, Royce Funds, a unit of Legg Mason retained the top spot for a second quarter in a row with 60% of the firm's 48 funds ranked as "buy."

Pacific Life Funds, with 55 rated funds, held second place with 46%, up from 38%, of their funds ranked in the top 30%. Pimco Funds moved from 12th place to third with 45% of its 51 funds top-ranked.

10 Best Fund Families With 40 to 99 Rated Funds Fund Family Name No. of Funds Rated Top 30% Middle 40% Bottom 30% Royce Funds 48 60.4% 39.6% 0.0% Pacific Life Funds 55 45.5% 32.7% 21.8% PIMCO Funds 51 45.1% 19.6% 35.3% Aberdeen Asset Management 84 38.1% 47.6% 14.3% Ridgeworth Funds 50 34.0% 44.0% 22.0% Russell Funds 94 30.9% 37.2% 31.9% Nuveen Investor Services 60 30.0% 18.3% 51.7% Nationwide Funds 65 27.7% 49.2% 23.1% Old Mutual Funds 71 26.8% 16.9% 56.3% Evergreen Investments 99 26.3% 42.4% 31.3% Source: TheStreet.com Ratings

First Eagle wins the "Ultra" Fund Family crown within the group of 68 fund companies with 10 to 39 rated funds. Twelve of First Eagle's 15 rated funds ranked in the top 30%. Henderson Global Funds, a unit of AMP, retained second place with 75% top-ranked funds. Oakmark rose to third place from sixth with 67% of its funds "buy" rated.

10 Best Fund Families With 10 to 39 Rated Funds Fund Family Name No. of Funds Rated Top 30% Middle 40% Bottom 30% First Eagle Funds 15 80.0% 20.0% 0.0% Henderson Global Funds 12 75.0% 8.3% 16.7% Oakmark 12 66.7% 33.3% 0.0% Thornburg Funds 24 58.3% 33.3% 8.3% Calamos 36 55.6% 44.4% 0.0% Schroder Funds 12 50.0% 50.0% 0.0% USAA Group 20 45.0% 30.0% 25.0% Kinetics Mutual Funds, Inc. 14 42.9% 28.6% 28.6% Lazard Funds 17 41.2% 41.2% 17.6% Dimensional Investment Group 35 40.0% 34.3% 25.7% Source: TheStreet.com Ratings

A total of 281 fund families have less than 10 rated open-end stock mutual funds. The budding "Ultra" Fund Family leading this group, Oak Associates Funds, kept all six of its funds in the top 30%. Harding Loevner Funds, with five of five, and Westport Funds, with four of four, also score 100% top-rated funds and earned honorable mentions.

Buzz up!