6 Top-Performing Large-Growth Funds

Funds in the large-cap growth cohort typically hold some of the largest, fastest-growing companies on the market. With an emphasis on firms that grow revenue and profit faster than their rivals, growth investing has seen substantial success over much of the last decade. The benchmark Morningstar US Large Growth Index has outperformed the Morningstar US Large Value Index by more than 3 percentage points per year over the past decade.

For investors interested in increasing their portfolios’ large-cap growth exposure, these six funds all carry high-conviction

. To screen for the top-performing funds in this category, we looked for those with the best returns over the last one-, three-, and five-year periods. Offerings from Fidelity stand out, taking up three of the six spots.

• Fidelity Blue Chip Growth K6 Fund FBCGX
• Fidelity Growth Company K6 Fund FGKFX
• Fidelity OTC K6 Portfolio FOKFX
• iShares S&P 500 Growth ETF IVW
• JPMorgan US GARP Equity Fund JGISX
• State Street SPDR Portfolio S&P 500 Growth ETF SPYG

Screening for the Top-Performing Large-Growth Funds

Large-growth portfolios invest in big US companies projected to grow faster than other large-cap stocks. Stocks in the top 70% of the capitalization of the US equity market are defined as large-cap. Growth is defined based on fast growth (high growth rates for earnings, sales, book value, and cash flow) and high valuations (high price ratios and low dividend yields). Most of these portfolios focus on companies in rapidly expanding industries.

Over the past 12 months, the average fund in the category returned 30.14%. On an annualized basis, large-growth funds have climbed 22.25% over the past three years and 9.58% over the past five. Meanwhile, the Morningstar US Market Index has risen 30.85% over the past 12 months, 20.40% per year over the past three years, and 11.63% per year over the past five.

To find the best large-growth funds, we looked at returns from the past one, three, and five years in Morningstar Direct. We screened for open-end and exchange-traded funds in the top 25% of the category using their lowest-cost primary share classes for those periods. We also filtered for funds with a Morningstar Medalist Rating of Bronze, Silver, or Gold. We excluded funds with assets under $100 million and analyst coverage that was not 100%. This left six investments.

Because the screen was created with the lowest-cost share class for each fund, some may be listed with share classes that are not accessible to individual investors outside of retirement plans, or they may be aimed at institutional investors and require large minimum investments. The individual investor versions of those funds may carry higher fees, reducing returns to shareholders. Medalist Ratings may differ among the share classes of a fund.

Fidelity Blue Chip Growth K6 Fund

• Morningstar Medalist Rating
  : Silver
• Morningstar Rating
  : ★★★★

This $16.8 billion fund has climbed 48.95% over the past year, outperforming the average fund in its category, which rose 30.14%. The Fidelity fund, launched in May 2017, has climbed 31.38% over the past three years and 13.77% over the past five.

Fidelity Blue Chip Growth stands tall on the strength of its bold bets and seasoned leadership. Yet, its reliance on a market enthused with artificial intelligence beneficiaries leaves it exposed if the mood shifts.

A consistent overweighting in semiconductors has helped earn the fund one of the large-growth Morningstar Category’s best results over the past decade. A $10,000 investment in its no-load share class on Feb. 1, 2016, would have grown to nearly $65,000 by Jan. 31, 2026, well above the roughly $55,000 in a fund tracking the Russell 1000 Growth Index (the category’s benchmark). Few other funds managed to beat the index over that span. The portfolio’s semiconductor stake, which is dominated by sizable overweightings in Nvidia and Marvell Technology, recently amounted to roughly 24% of assets—more than the index’s 22% and average peer’s 18% or so.

Nvidia and Marvell are riskier than most. Although both enjoy sound balance sheets, a slip in spending on AI infrastructure could send their shares plummeting. Their businesses have historically been prone to boom-and-bust cycles that have rocked their share prices. Indeed, Marvell plunged by one-fifth in 2025 as the index climbed by around the same amount. And supply chain disruptions—whether stemming from trade tensions, export controls, or geopolitical conflicts—are other shared risks.

But this strategy has never been tame under manager Sonu Kalra. He builds a portfolio of 200-plus stocks that embraces companies with higher-than-average expected growth rates, at times paltry earnings relative to their share prices, and significant price fluctuations. These features position the strategy to thrive when investors’ risk appetites grow, but they also set the stage for its underperformance when markets stumble or when value stocks—those with low price multiples and growth rates or high dividend yields—are in favor. It is an investment style that resembles other well-run Fidelity funds.

Fidelity Growth Company K6 Fund

• Morningstar Medalist Rating
  : Gold
• Morningstar Rating
  : ★★★★★

This $22 billion fund has gained 62.22% over the past year, while the average fund in its category is up 30.14%. The Fidelity fund, launched in June 2019, has climbed 33.92% over the past three years and 16.11% over the past five.

Fidelity Growth Company’s long-term success owes much to the stock-picking prowess of manager Steve Wymer—and especially to his early embrace of Nvidia, whose extraordinary ascent in recent years has made it a defining force in the portfolio. With fees ranging from 0.45% to 0.55% of assets—some of the lowest price tags for an actively managed fund in the large-growth Morningstar Category—the strategy remains one of that group’s most compelling options. Two share classes have performance-based mechanisms that recently pushed down their net expense ratios.

Wymer has run this strategy for more than 25 years, earning a place not just as one of the industry’s longest-tenured large-growth managers but also as one of its most talented. Despite the strategy’s huge asset base, Wymer has executed his process without missing a beat and consistently outpaced his competition.

The strategy has become increasingly defined by Nvidia, the leading provider of graphics processing units, which has recently become the world’s most valuable company. Since becoming the portfolio’s top holding in 2016, the stock has climbed more than 100-fold in market value, thanks in large part to its stellar results since 2023. Through its outperformance and despite Wymer paring it back, the stock’s share of the portfolio since early 2023 doubled to 18% of assets as of September 2025. That’s a huge position size in absolute terms and relative to the stock’s 13%-14% share of relevant large-growth indexes.

The strategy’s heft is a disadvantage, in that it limits Wymer’s ability to nimbly trade or hold big positions in names he favors without exceeding ownership limits. Even so, the strategy, which has long been closed to most new investors, remains exceptional.

Fidelity OTC K6 Portfolio

• Morningstar Medalist Rating
  : Gold
• Morningstar Rating
  : ★★★★

This $2.8 billion fund has gained 49.77% over the past year, while the average fund in its category is up 30.14%. The Fidelity fund, launched in June 2019, has climbed 28.54% over the past three years and 13.83% over the past five.

For the first five months of 2025, this strategy’s returns were rough. Its retail share class’ 4.6% fall lagged 254 of the 260 actively managed large-growth Morningstar Category funds and lagged the Russell 1000 Growth Index by more than 4 percentage points. By May, Lin resolved to ignore macro noise and invest aggressively but not recklessly. From June through August 2025, the strategy gained 16.5%, topping all but 16 active category peers and thumping the index by 3.5 percentage points.

Faced with poor performance in spring 2025, Lin demonstrated intellectual honesty and humility, key qualities that helped drive the High People Pillar rating. He admits the tariff turmoil spooked him, so he didn’t boldly pursue opportunities early in the downturn. His devotion to constant learning and improvement, however, drives an ability to course-correct. Plus, Lin’s most important talent—logical, structured thinking about investments—is the engine that puts these other traits into action. Combined, these qualities signal an excellent investor capable of strong repeatable performance.

What sets this strategy apart is a manager who blends bold investing with great care, a rare combination in a high-octane growth portfolio.

iShares S&P 500 Growth ETF

• Morningstar Medalist Rating
  : Silver
• Morningstar Rating
  : ★★★★

This $67.2 billion fund has climbed 37.66% over the past year, outperforming the average fund in its category, which rose 30.14%. The iShares fund, launched in May 2000, has climbed 25.29% over the past three years and 13.41% over the past five.

The fund tracks the S&P 500 Growth Index, which is derived from the broader S&P 500. This parent index encompasses the largest 500 stocks in the US market that pass its liquidity and profitability screens, weighting each by market capitalization. Stocks are ranked based on value-growth scores that consider metrics like price multiples, sales growth, earnings growth, and 12-month price change. The fastest- and slowest-growing third by market-cap are fully assigned to the growth and value indexes, respectively. Stocks in the middle third are partially allocated to each based on their scores. The index reconstitutes annually and uses buffer rules to minimize turnover.

Market-cap weighting is a reasonable approach for the large-growth category because large-cap stocks usually reflect new information quickly, making it hard for active managers to gain an edge. It follows the wisdom of crowds and takes the guesswork out of stock selection. Market-cap weighting also generates lower trading costs. The index’s turnover is lower than the category average but higher than broad-market index funds, which hold stocks regardless of their growth or value characteristics.

The portfolio closely matches the growth and size characteristics of its average peer. Metrics used to identify growth stocks, such as earnings and sales growth, align with the large-growth category. The index holds large-cap stocks, much like its peers, and its average market cap is identical to the category average. As of March 2025, the index holds nearly 210 stocks, 30 fewer than its average peer, and stashes 50% in its top 10 holdings, 2 percentage points less than peers.

The fund’s sector allocations hewed closely to its average peer in March 2025, with no sector deviating by more than 4 percentage points. However, this hasn’t always been the case. Deviations of 5 percentage points or more are common. Before the fund reconstituted in December 2024, it held half its portfolio in technology stocks, 8 percentage points more than peers. Technology stocks still hold the largest allocation of any sector at nearly 40%, as of March 2025. The fund’s top three holdings, Nvidia, Microsoft, and Apple, occupy 23% of the portfolio. A heavy dose of tech stocks is expected for a large-growth strategy, but concentration in those three names and that sector poses a risk.

JPMorgan US GARP Equity Fund

• Morningstar Medalist Rating
  : Bronze
• Morningstar Rating
  : ★★★★

Over the past year, the JPMorgan fund rose 36.87%, while the average fund in its category rose 30.14%. The fund, launched in November 2015, has climbed 25.83% over the past three years and 14.42% over the past five.

JPMorgan US GARP Equity is likely to convert to an exchange-traded fund in July 2026 and become JPMorgan Fundamental Data Science Large Growth ETF. Subject to fund board approval, much more than this fund’s vehicle type will change. Its current factor-based quantitative framework will be replaced by an artificial intelligence-powered stock-picking model. Additionally, Eric Moreau will become a named manager, joined by current manager Andrew Stern. The trio of other quantitative managers on the strategy will step off.

Moreau is the architect behind the firm’s expanding lineup of ETFs powered by an artificial intelligence model. The firm first debuted the strategy on JPMorgan Fundamental Data Science Large Value ETF in 2021, later expanding it to pick stocks in other market segments, including US small- and mid-cap. The model is designed to replicate a fundamental analyst’s process by forecasting company financials and deriving a fair value estimate. The model was custom-built and originally trained how to “think” by evaluating decades of J.P. Morgan analyst-driven forecasts and security prices.

The resulting portfolio is expected to hew closely to the Russell 1000 Growth Index, so single-stock risk figures to be low. That caps this strategy’s upside and downside, though an indexlike return in the large-growth segment has been a good thing in recent years.

In short, this soon-to-be ETF has some things going for it, but it’s still unproven.

State Street SPDR Portfolio S&P 500 Growth ETF

• Morningstar Medalist Rating
  : Silver
• Morningstar Rating
  : ★★★★

The $46.7 billion fund has climbed 37.82% over the past year, outperforming the average fund in its category, which rose 30.14%. The State Street fund, launched in September 2000, has climbed 25.45% over the past three years and 13.56% over the past five.

State Street SPDR Portfolio S&P 500 Growth ETF accurately represents the large-growth segment of the US stock market, allowing its low fee and efficient portfolio to carve out a long-term edge.

The fund tracks the S&P 500 Growth Index, which holds the faster-growing large-cap stocks in the S&P 500 and weights them by market cap. The cheaper side of the S&P 500 goes to the index’s value counterpart, while stocks stuck between value and growth are split between both indexes. Each holds stocks with weak value and growth characteristics as a result. Stocks must be profitable over the past year to be included, and a committee has final discretion over which stocks get added or removed.

Assigning position sizes based on a stock’s market cap is a simple and efficient method to weight the portfolio. Since US stocks are highly traded, they quickly reflect new information, and carving an edge is difficult. Market-cap weighting naturally adjusts to price changes without frequent rebalancing, generating lower trading costs. That, and lower fees, give large-growth index funds a long-term performance advantage over most actively managed peers.

The fund’s focus on companies with strong growth characteristics leaves it vulnerable to growth traps: high-priced stocks that fall short of their lofty projections. Market-cap weighting exacerbates the risk by pouring more into those stocks than may be justified. However, market consensus has priced stocks well in the long run.

The fund holds a broad, well-diversified portfolio. It typically includes around 140 stocks, and the top 10 represented around 60% of the portfolio at the end of March 2026. Still, market-cap weighting can contribute to portfolio concentration when a few stocks dominate the market. This has been the case lately with a handful of mega-cap technology stocks growing to prominence and commanding a greater share of the portfolio.

When a few richly valued companies or sectors power most of the market gains, market-cap weighting may overexpose the strategy to the fluctuations of one stock or sector. But this is not a fault in design, as it simply reflects the market’s composition. Its low turnover, low fee, and broad diversification across the growth market mitigate these risks.

This exchange-traded fund returned 15.9% annualized over the past 10 years through March 2026. It holds little cash, which should help it outperform cash-saddled active peers during market rallies. Likewise, low cash drag could hurt this fund when growth stocks decline, but long-term positive returns give this efficient approach a clear edge.