Investment Watch

Conformist--or rebel? Mutual fund tracker Morningstar posed that question as it looked at the performance of major fund firms’ stock funds. Morningstar gauged each firm’s “R-squared� measure, a figure that tells how closely, on average, a company’s funds track their category average (growth, equity-income, etc.). Measured over the last three years, American Capital, Putnam and Vanguard were among the firms whose funds conformed closest to category averages. At the other end of the spectrum, Janus, Merrill Lynch and Franklin had more “James Dean� funds--rebels in their categories. Of course, rebel funds can cut both ways--sharply beating market averages or badly lagging them.