How the Largest US Stock Funds Did in Q3 2025

Key Takeaways

• The stock market continued to rise in the third quarter, with index funds outperforming and a more mixed bag for active funds.
• The JPMorgan Large Cap Growth Fund ranked highest among the largest active funds.
• The Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund was the highest-ranking of the largest index funds.

As the US stock market pushed to new record highs in the third quarter of 2025, investors in the 10 biggest US stock index funds did well, while many of the largest actively managed stock funds underperformed.

Among the 10 largest actively managed US stock funds, only one, the $123 billion JPMorgan Large Cap Growth Fund JLGMX, ranked in the top third of its category. The fund’s 9.3% return placed it in the 27th percentile of the large-cap growth category. Seven of the 10 funds underperformed their categories. The $121 billion Dodge & Cox Stock Fund DOXGX placed the lowest, with its 3.2% return putting it in the 93rd percentile of the large-cap value category.

In a repeat of the second quarter, all but one of the 10 largest US stock index funds outperformed their categories. The highest-ranked fund was the $2 trillion Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund VSTSX

, whose 8.2% gains in the third quarter put it in the 21st percentile of the large-cap blend category. The lowest-ranking fund was the $199 billion Vanguard Mid Cap Index Fund VMCPX

, which landed in the 55th percentile of the mid-cap blend category on a 5.3% third-quarter return. This was a reversal from the second quarter, when it was the highest-ranking index fund on the list.

The Largest Active Stock Funds: The Best Q3 Performers

Each quarter, we review the short- and long-term performances of the largest active stock funds and index-tracking funds. Names like the Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund are core holdings in many portfolios, especially retirement accounts. This list includes both traditional mutual funds and exchange-traded funds.

When evaluating funds, investors should focus on long-term returns across multiple years and market cycles. However, short-term returns can provide valuable information about biases within strategies.

Performance data for this article was based on the lowest-cost share class for each fund. Some funds may be listed with share classes not accessible to individual investors outside retirement plans. The individual investor versions of those funds may carry higher fees, reducing returns to shareholders. For longer-term returns, if a share class was launched more recently than the period mentioned, an older share class was substituted if one exists.

Six of the 10 largest active US stock funds beat their peers, with most of the funds ranking in the middle third of their categories.

The Silver-rated JPMorgan Large-Cap Growth Fund ranked the highest, returning 9.3%, compared with the 7.6% average for the large-cap growth category and 7.8% for the Morningstar US Large-Mid Cap Broad Growth Index. That gain was not only the largest relative to its category, but also the largest in absolute terms. The biggest contributors to its third-quarter return were chip designer Nvidia NVDA, which contributed 2.0 points, and Apple AAPL, which contributed 1.2 points. “Lead manager Giri Devulapally aims to find big, long-term winners while limiting downside risk,” writes Morningstar analyst Andrew Redden. “He and his team focus on companies with durable competitive advantages, clear opportunities for margin expansion, and sizable addressable markets.”

The Largest Active Stock Funds: The Worst Q3 Performers

The worst-performing of the largest actively managed US stock funds was the Dodge & Cox Stock Fund. Its 3.2% return places it in the 93rd percentile of the large-cap value category, giving it both the lowest absolute return and category ranking of the largest funds. For reference, funds in the large-cap value category averaged a 5.5% return for the quarter, while the Morningstar US Large-Mid Cap Broad Value Index returned 8.5%. This continues the fund’s underperformance from the second quarter, when it had the lowest absolute return of the largest active funds.

The largest detractors to the fund’s return in the third quarter were telecom company Charter Communications CHTR, which detracted 0.9 percentage points, and fintech firm Fiserv FI, which trimmed 0.8 points. According to Morningstar associate director Tony Thomas, such short-term bumps are familiar to the fund, which holds a Gold Medalist Ranking, but he also wrote that the fund’s long-term record is “impressive.”

The Largest Stock Index Funds: The Best Q3 Performers

Stocks continued to roar back after their dip earlier in the year, bringing the largest US index funds with them. The S&P 500 continued to hit new record highs into late September as the Federal Reserve cut interest rates for the first time in 2025.

The Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund returned 8.2% in the quarter, compared with the large-blend category’s 6.9% average and the Morningstar US Large-Mid Cap Index’s 8.1%. This put it in the 21st percentile of the large-cap blend category, the highest ranking of the largest index funds, and the only one to land in the top quartile of its category. Morningstar analyst Brendan McCann describes the fund as “a one-stop shop for all US Stocks.”

The second-best performer in terms of category ranking and absolute return was the $329 billion Vanguard Growth ETF VUG

, which gained 9.6%, putting it in the 23rd percentile of the large-cap growth category. That beats out both the average for the large-cap growth category of 7.6% and the Morningstar US Large-Mid Cap Broad Growth Index’s 7.8% return.

“Despite some differences, the fund remains an excellent representative of the large-growth category and should perform well when growth stocks are in favor,” writes Morningstar analyst Zachary Evens. “Diversifying across the market’s largest and strongest helps control risk. Additionally, its low fee presents a durable advantage going forward.”

The Largest Stock Index Funds: The Worst Q3 Performers

The worst-performing of the largest US stock index funds, in both absolute returns and by category ranking, was the Vanguard Mid Cap Index Fund, which returned 5.3%, placing it in the 55th percentile in the mid-cap blend category. Funds in the category averaged a 5.2% return for the third quarter, while the Morningstar US Mid-Cap Index returned 4.7%.

This was a stumble compared with the second quarter, when the Gold-rated fund ranked in the 26th percentile of its category. The fund offers “cheap and broad exposure to mid-cap stocks,” writes McCann.

Long-Term Performance of the Largest Active Stock Funds

Short-term performance can show how funds hold up under certain market conditions, but the best way to take a fund’s measure is to look at its longer-term performance relative to its peers or benchmarks. Over the past three years, seven of the 10 largest active funds outperformed their category peers.

The two highest-ranking funds over that period, both from Capital Group, placed in the top decile of the large-cap blend category. The $175 billion American Funds Investment Company of America Fund RICGX, averaged an annual return of 28.5%, putting it in the 4th percentile of the category and the $160 billion American Funds Fundamental Investors Fund RFNGX, averaged an annual return of 27.3% over the same period, putting it in the 6th percentile.

Another close contender was the $171 billion Fidelity Contrafund FCNKX, which averaged a return of 32.8% over the past three years, putting it in the 14th percentile of the large-cap growth category.

The Long-Term Performance of the Largest Stock Index Funds

Virtually all of the 10 of the largest US Stock index funds ranked higher in their categories over the past three years than they did based on third-quarter returns. While none ranked in the top decile, all 10 beat their category peers over that period.

The highest-ranking funds were a five-way tie between four of the funds that tracked the S&P 500 Index and the $328 billion Invesco QQQ Trust QQQ, all of which ranked in the 22nd percentile of their categories. The S&P 500 funds, all of which are in the large-cap blend category, were the $1.4 trillion Vanguard 500 Index Fund VFFSX, the $696 billion Fidelity 500 Index Fund FXAIX, the $634 billion iShares Core S&P 500 ETF IVV, and the $322 Vanguard S&P 500 Fund VIIIX. All averaged a 24.9% return over the past three years. The S&P 500 funds, which all have Gold Medalist Ratings, are described as “best in class” by McCann.

The Invesco QQQ Trust returned 31.8% per year over the past three years, putting it in the 22nd percentile of the large-cap growth category and giving it the highest absolute performance of any fund on the list over that period.

“The Nasdaq-100 Index is a flawed benchmark whose superb track record conceals holes in its construction,” writes Morningstar senior analyst Ryan Jackson.