The 5 Best Actively Managed Fidelity Funds to Buy Now

In a stock picker's market, it's sometimes best to leave the driving to the pros. These Fidelity funds provide investors solid active management at low costs.

Fidelity Investments building
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2022 was a stock picker's market, and 2023 is continuing this trend. What does that mean for investors? Put simply, it means that well-implemented active strategies can have better odds of outperforming compared to passive strategies. It also means that now is a good time to take a look at the best actively managed Fidelity funds.

Why Fidelity?

Fidelity belongs among the premier actively managed mutual fund companies in the investment universe. Their top-notch management is backed by a large and seasoned investment research team. Even when a lead manager leaves, it rarely causes a problem for fund performance because the research and other support are so strong.

"The firm's successful stock-picking mutual funds fueled its rise to prominence, and it has adapted well to investor preferences that have shifted markedly over the past two decades," writes Morningstar (opens in new tab) strategist Robby Greengold. While most inflows have gone to index funds and exchange-traded funds, Fidelity's asset-management division has achieved solid organic growth "by introducing or maintaining aggressive pricing on its own suite of passively managed funds and expanding its menu of client-demanded investment structures, such as managed accounts and collective investment trusts."

True, "the firm is not without blemishes," Greengold says. "It could stand to rationalize its lineup of active equity funds and do better to maintain continuity in an equity fund's portfolio construction as the fund's leadership inevitably changes." Still, he adds, Fidelity "has served its funds' investors well."

So, if you're looking for some of the best best active managers out there, Fidelity Investments can be a good place to begin your search.

How we chose the best actively managed Fidelity funds

Fidelity has dozens of actively managed funds, so narrowing them down to a handful is no easy task. To tighten up the process, we focused on funds that are highly rated by financial services firm Morningstar. 

We chipped the list down even further by focusing on funds that have the capacity to outperform in the current high-inflationary, high interest rate environment that we are currently in.  

With that in mind, here are five of the best actively managed Fidelity funds that should not just work well in 2023, but also for the long run.

Data is as of April 24.

Kent Thune
Contributing Writer, Kiplinger.com

Kent Thune, CFP, is a financial professional that helps individuals and businesses achieve their goals through a variety of delivery methods, including investment advice, financial planning and writing.