Fidelity Extends Lead in Top-Rated Funds

Up one spot to second place, T. Rowe Price(TROW) 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(SLF) 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(LM) 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(AMLTF), 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.

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