Plenty Of Funds Excel During Uptrend; Earnings A Key Factor; Leaders are spotted from small-cap growth to large value funds.(MUTUAL FUNDS)(INVESTMENT TRENDS)

Byline: DAVID SAITO-CHUNG

They bag treasure across the different oceans of market capitalization. They use unique stock-hunting strategies. They allocate money to each stock and each industry differently.

But the best growth- and value-style mutual funds in recent months have at least this in common: They've all owned big stakes in some of the biggest winners over the past year.

Growth funds on average posted an 8.93% gain from Oct. 1 through Feb. 27, according to a screen by Morningstar Inc. That beat value funds' 6.63% average return.

IBD chose to track performance over this time frame because the market broke months of choppy action with a solid follow-through on Oct. 19.

Growth has also led since Jan. 1, rising 5.77% vs. 5.09% for value.

Since Oct. 1, the top-performing funds all sport gains exceeding 14.66% through Feb. 27 (see table). In terms of market-cap type, they run the gamut from micro-cap growth to large-cap value.