The Daily Screen: The Best Large-Cap Blend Funds

Screen Saver Here are recent daily screens covering other fund categories.

Telecom

Small-Cap Value

Tech

Europe

Pacific/Asia

Real Estate

Global

Natural Resources

Utilities

Japan

Mid-Cap Growth

Health Care

Mid-Cap Blend

Financial Sector

Strategic-Income

Large-Cap Value

Small-Cap Growth

Mid-Cap Value

Large-Cap Growth

'Twentysomething'

Communications

Large-Cap Blend

International

Emerging Markets

Today we're poking through the large-cap blend category -- a good place to shop for a core stock fund that's a little country and a little rock 'n' roll.

As you might imagine, these funds' portfolios typically blend growth and value stocks . Growth stocks are those of companies growing their earnings quickly. They tend to have higher valued shares -- they often hail from high-octane sectors like technology. Value stocks, on the other hand, are often slow but steady growers, whose stocks look cheap relative to their industry peers and the market. Financial services is a traditional value-stock sector.

This mix of aggressive and more moderate investments can make these funds a good core holding for a broad range of investors. They typically perform similarly to the market, gaining ground with growth stocks, but not tumbling as far as they do in years like this one. That somewhat steady-Eddie DNA can give your portfolio a firm foundation. ...