Fidelity Leads Industry in Top-Rated Funds

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Fidelity Investments, the biggest mutual fund company, offers the most number of top-rated funds among 416 families, according to data compiled by TheStreet.com Ratings.

For three years, we've been ranking fund firms based on how many top-rated funds they oversee. Fidelity remained our "Ultra" Fund Family winner for a seventh straight quarter, managing 18 of the 200 mutual funds with the highest ratings, A and A-plus.

ING Investment Management, a unit of ING Groep(ING Quote), manages eight top-rated funds. The full list can be found in our spring 2009 edition of TheStreet.com Ratings Guide to Stock Mutual Funds.

Among fund families with at least 100 graded funds, Putnam Investments has the largest percentage of portfolios ranked in the top 30%, with 48.3%. We rate 478 Putnam funds.

American Century Investments climbed to second place from fifth last quarter with 43.1% top-ranked funds among its 188 portfolios. AllianceBernstein(AB Quote) rose one notch to third, with 41.8% of its 435 funds.

Here are companies that manage 100 or more funds with grades from TheStreet.com Ratings. The top 30% hold investment grades of A-plus to B-minus. The middle 40% have grades in the C range and the bottom 30% are rated D-plus and lower.

Fund Families With 100 or More Rated Funds Fund Family Name No. of Funds Rated Top 30% Middle 40% Bottom 30% Putnam Funds 478 48.3% 30.8% 20.9% American Century Investments 188 43.1% 46.3% 10.6% Alliance Bernstein 435 41.8% 21.8% 36.3% Van Kampen 154 40.3% 40.9% 18.8% American Funds 226 39.8% 53.5% 6.6% Prudential, JennisonDryden, Strategic Partners 151 38.4% 41.1% 20.5% T. Rowe Price 117 37.6% 44.4% 17.9% MainStay Funds 122 33.6% 54.1% 12.3% MFS 318 32.7% 50.3% 17.0% Hartford Funds, The 282 32.3% 37.6% 30.1% Rydex Funds 153 32.0% 24.2% 43.8% Ivy, Waddell & Reed Funds 146 30.8% 54.8% 14.4% Franklin Templeton 249 30.1% 52.2% 17.7% ProFunds 100 30.0% 15.0% 55.0% Vanguard 139 28.8% 51.1% 20.1% Fidelity Investments 646 28.0% 35.4% 36.5% BlackRock 215 27.9% 46.5% 25.6% John Hancock 165 26.7% 35.2% 38.2% Legg Mason 105 23.8% 42.9% 33.3% Delaware Investments 102 23.5% 49.0% 27.5% Wells Fargo Advantage Funds 201 22.9% 54.2% 22.9% JPMorgan Funds 213 22.5% 45.1% 32.4% RiverSource Investments 167 22.2% 42.5% 35.3% Columbia Funds 528 22.0% 44.7% 33.3% ING Investments, LLC 353 20.7% 51.8% 27.5% Dreyfus & Mellon Funds 184 20.1% 53.8% 26.1% DWS Investments 179 19.0% 38.5% 42.5% Invesco AIM Investments 215 17.7% 54.4% 27.9% Janus Fund 131 17.6% 60.3% 22.1% Allianz Global Investors Fund Manag 149 17.4% 55.0% 27.5% Pioneer Investments 109 17.4% 53.2% 29.4% Goldman Sachs 130 16.9% 52.3% 30.8% OppenheimerFunds 221 15.8% 52.5% 31.7% Principal Financial Group 400 15.8% 47.3% 37.0% Morgan Stanley 154 15.6% 55.8% 28.6% MassMutual Funds 181 14.9% 46.4% 38.7% SunAmerica 110 11.8% 44.5% 43.6% Source: TheStreet.com Ratings