TheStreet.com Ratings: 'Ultra' Fund Families

Back on Aug. 19, when I published the first "Top 5 'Ultra' Funds" article, I had no idea how huge the response would be. Readers sent in comments, and Dreyfus put out a press release.

The purpose of the list is to provide investors looking to minimize transaction costs with suggestions for fund families that have many good funds. The groups with the most funds in the top-200 list of our Quarterly Guide to Mutual Funds qualify as 'ultra' fund families. This time the number of ultra funds was slightly higher than the last quarter, because of ties.

MFS, a unit of Sun Life Financial(SLF Quote), topped the list again for the third quarter, with 14 funds. BlackRock (BLK Quote), Dreyfus, a unit of Mellon Financial(MEL Quote),and Putnam Investments tied for second with nine funds. AIM, a unit of Amvescap PLC(AVZ Quote), Fidelity and Vanguard tied for third place with eight funds.

One comment I received suggested that the results should be given without the effect of multiple share classes. Even when the clones are eliminated, MFS still comes out on top with six unique funds. Dimensional Investments and Putnam followed with five. AIM, Fidelity, GMO and Vanguard each had four unique funds....