If you're evaluating mutual funds for your investment portfolio or retirement account, this list highlights the best U.S. diversified stock funds to consider now, based on each fund outperforming the S&P 500 over the past one-, three-, five- and 10-year periods.
What is a U.S. diversified stock fund? A diversified stock fund is a type of mutual fund that invests in many types of stocks, primarily traded in the U.S. Their holdings can span many market sectors and industries and can include stocks with various market capitalizations, ranging from small-cap stocks to large-caps. Their investing style also vary from growth to value, with some blending the two strategies. The broad diversification of a diversified fund is meant to prevent events in a single industry or sector from affecting the entire portfolio.
Shaded cells in the table below indicate the five best-of-the-best funds based on 10-year performance. Of 1,306 U.S. diversified stock funds at least 10 years old, 14 of them, or less than 1%, won awards.
For more details, read about how the best mutual funds deliver benchmark-beating returns, and see the full 2024 list of IBD's Best Mutual Funds in every category, including bond funds, diversified stock funds, blend and index funds, and breakouts of large-cap, midcap and small-cap funds.
All returns are as of Dec. 31, 2023.
Best U.S. Diversified Stock Funds
| Fund | Symbol | 1-year total return | 3-year average annual return | 5-year average annual return | 10-year average annual return | Morningstar category | Annual report net expense ratio |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Benchmark: S&P 500 | 26.29% | 10% | 15.69% | 12.03% | |||
| Virtus KAR Small-Cap Core I * | PKSFX | 32.38 | 11.96 | 19.01 | 14.84 | US Fund Mid-Cap Growth | 1% |
| Federated Hermes MDT Large Cap Growth IS | QILGX | 39.62 | 11.09 | 20.14 | 13.92 | US Fund Large Growth | 0.74 |
| JPMorgan U.S. GARP Equity I | JPGSX | 42.03 | 10.45 | 17.32 | 13.52 | US Fund Large Growth | 0.59 |
| GMO Quality IV | GQEFX | 30.06 | 11.68 | 16.82 | 13.48 | US Fund Large Blend | 0.45 |
| Elfun Trusts | ELFNX | 34.49 | 10.23 | 17.82 | 12.89 | US Fund Large Growth | 0.18 |
| Pear Tree Quality Ordinary | USBOX | 29.22 | 11.45 | 16.59 | 12.82 | US Fund Large Blend | 1.19 |
| Needham Aggressive Growth Retail | NEAGX | 37.65 | 11.12 | 24.49 | 12.78 | US Fund Small Growth | 1.85 |
| Cantor Growth Equity A | FICGX | 28.68 | 10.41 | 16.46 | 12.62 | US Fund Large Growth | 1.17 |
| Goldman Sachs Flexible Cap Institutional | GILLX | 28.36 | 10.58 | 16.71 | 12.47 | US Fund Large Blend | 0.59 |
| T. Rowe Price U.S. Equity Research | PRCOX | 29.8 | 10.49 | 16.44 | 12.39 | US Fund Large Blend | 0.45 |
| JPMorgan US Large Cap Core Plus I | JLPSX | 29.82 | 10.98 | 17.49 | 12.21 | US Fund Large Blend | 1.54 |
| JHancock Fundamental All Cap Core I | JFCIX | 34.78 | 10.37 | 18.56 | 12.19 | US Fund Large Blend | 0.83 |
| Putnam Core Equity Fund Y | PMYYX | 27.99 | 12.08 | 17.03 | 12.15 | US Fund Large Blend | 0.73 |
| BNY Mellon Large Cap Securities Inc | DREVX | 31.06 | 11.05 | 17.1 | 12.09 | US Fund Large Growth | 0.71 |
Sources: IBD, Morningstar Direct
* Fund is closed to new investors
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