Mutual Fund Performance and Manager Style

Abstract

In this analysis of the relationship between equity mutual fund performance and manager style, two questions are addressed. First, does any investment style generate abnormal returns on average? Second, when funds are grouped by equity style, does any style exhibit performance persistence? The answers from this study are as follows: None of the styles earned positive abnormal returns during the 1965-98 sample period, and value funds realized negative abnormal returns of about 2.75 percentage points a year. Some evidence was found of short-run performance persistence among the best-performing growth funds and among the worst-performing small-cap funds.