TheStreet.com Ratings: Closet Index Suspects

Editor's note: the following story was originally published on Dec. 14.

Like the millions of Americans who will soon be trekking to gyms to work off holiday weight gain, the managers of the funds on the accompanying list should make New Year's resolutions to become more active. There's some compelling evidence that they've taken a relatively passive approach to running their respective portfolios.

Passively managed index funds have long been important components of the investment mix. But these now-ubiquitous offerings tend to compensate for their middle-of-the-road returns with razor-thin expense ratios. The index-fund group's raison d'etre has been that expensive research isn't necessary to match the S&P 500.

Active fund managers, by comparison, invest more time and money researching stocks in the hopes of beating their benchmark index, and they charge commensurately higher fees. ...