Mid-Cap Growth Funds Up 7.3% Through April

Growth funds are beating value funds handily so far this year, leading some fund managers to believe the market may be back on track, The Wall Street Journal reports.

The best-performing growth category is mid-cap growth, up 7.3% through April, followed by large-cap growth (4.9%) and small-cap growth (3.9%). By comparison, large-cap value funds are down 3.9%, followed by small-cap value (minus 1.4%) and mid-cap value (up 1.2%).

The best-performing growth category is technology, returning 17%, followed by communications, up 11%. Andrew Silverberg, senior vice president at Fred Alger Management, attributes technology funds’ strong showing to IT companies’ experience during the dot-com crash. That sector’s mini-recession provided them with “a playbook for getting through this,” Silverberg said.

Silverberg said he is greatly encouraged by growth funds’ performance and believes investors are ready to take on some risk. “Investors want something that’s going to grow coming out of this,” he reasoned. “It’s impossible to know the long term, but positive signs are in place.”