Four funds from Fidelity's best managers

by Jim Lowell, editor Fidelity Investor

I think it’s wise to consider the fund managers that have fared best this year; they may well be year-end winners as well.

Of course, the market can make all managers look like geniuses or dunces at any given moment, but longer-term, the market doesn’t make the manager, it’s the other way around.

It's not surprising then to find Will Danoff faring better than most, even the most competent.

The manager of Contrafund (FCNTX) continues to find ways to profit from unloved, overlooked, and undervalued stocks and/or market moods, momentum and moments.

Foreign investments make up 17.8% of the holdings; helping him buffer some of the Eurozone carnage that have plagued less savvy globalists.

The top three sectors are technology (30.4%), consumer discretionary (18.7%), and health care (9.9%).

The top ten holdings are Apple, Google, Berkshire Hathaway, McDonalds, Coca Cola, Disney, Noble Energy, Wells Fargo, Amazon.com, and Oracle.

His large bet on tech means he’s not immune to downturns, but he also isn’t going to be sidelined by rallies (relief driven or otherwise).

Focused Stock (FTQGX) is also a buy. Running a portfolio consisting of only 47 names, Manager Stephen DuFour has to be a stock picker par excellence.

If not, there’s a short step to a long drop. He has no style manacles, nor capitalization monocle that I can see; growth or value stocks, larger over smaller, today’s blue chips over tomorrow’s possible ones.

Foreign stocks: 14.6% of the holdings. The top three sectors are technology (19.6%), consumer discretionary (17%), and health care (16.7%).

The top ten holdings are Carlisle, Alcatel Lucent, Estee Lauder, Baker Hughes, MasterCard, Starbucks, Intuit, Sirius XM Radio, Keyera, and Exxon Mobil.

Growth Company (FDGRX) is also rated a buy. While the entire growth stock world is manager Steve Wymer’s stage, he has always exhibited a bias for homegrown picks; foreign stocks are 7% of the holdings.

The top three sectors are technology (33.3%), health care (16.3%), and consumer discretionary (15.5%).

The top ten holdings are Apple, Exxon Mobil, Salesforce.com, Google, Red Hat, Discover Financial Services, Lululemon Athletica, Qualcomm, Herbalife, and Fossil.

Like Danoff, he counterweights his tech tilt with consumer and healthcare names; and after decades of playing market pinball, he’s earned the right to be called a wizard.

We also rate Large Cap Growth (FSLGX) a buy, where bigger is betterin terms of battleship balance sheets and global reach.

Manager Jeffrey Feingold is a growth guy cut from the cloth of Wymer.

Foreign investments make up 9.1% of the holdings; a drop in the global bucket until you think globally and see how many of his holdings derive the majority of their revenue from overseas markets.

The top three sectors are technology (29.1%), consumer discretionary (13.7%), and industrials (12.1%).

The top ten holdings are Apple, Exxon Mobil, Google, Amazon.com, Cognizant Tech Solutions, Qualcomm, Oracle, United Technologies, TJX Companies, and Herbalife.

Learn more about this financial newsletter at Jim Lowell's Fidelity Investor.