The Big Screen: Small- and Mid-Cap Growth Funds

Growth funds are showing signs of life again, but choosing among the ragged masses is hardly easy.

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For the first time in recent memory, tech-heavy growth funds lapped their tech-light value peers last month, according to fund tracker Lipper. As we've said, for most of us it makes sense to split your stock portfolio evenly between each style because they trade leadership every few years. After all, the recent drubbing wasn't as painful for those who held on to their value funds during the tech mania. You'll be glad you held your growth funds when that style, and the tech sector, get back on their feet.

But with most growth funds having lost a quarter or more of their value over the past year, it might be tough to find some decent choices. Today, the Big Screen sifts the mid- and small-cap growth-fund bins to single out a short list of survivors. It updates our past effort and will be added to our Diversification Tool Box -- a blueprint for a diversified stock-fund portfolio with a list of decent funds in each style.

In each category we yanked out any fund that didn't beat the category average over the past one, three and five years, and those where a new manager took the reins in the past three years. Then we pulled out funds that are closed to new investors and those with above-average expenses and a minimum investment north of $10,000. Finally, we ranked the funds that made our cut by their annualized returns over the past five years.

Let's first check out the mid-cap funds, which focus on stocks with market caps between $1.4 billion and $8.8 billion. ...