The Big Screen: Large-Cap Growth Funds

There are some Hall of Famers among the big-cap funds in our net.

There better be, when you consider that of the some 440 out there, just 38 made the cut. Few managers were able to beat the category's 41% average gain in 1999 and then fall less than the category's average 14% loss in 2000 and 23% tumble last year.

One who did is Ritchie Freeman, manager of the broker-sold (SHRAX Quote)Smith Barney Aggressive Growth fund since 1983. He buys shares of small- and mid-cap stocks he believes will grow their earnings at a 20% clip, and hangs on to those that do so. His low-trading approach has led to a taste for health care and tech stocks, as well as a stellar record. He has beaten the S&P 500 and at least 98% of his peers over the past one, three, five and 10 years, earning him a share of TheStreet.com's 2001 stock-fund manager of the year title. ...