These are the top funds in five major categories, ranked according to three-year returns. We primarily consider funds with managers in place for at least three years; the only exceptions are managers with at least three years’ experience in a similar capacity. We don’t rank funds with front or back-end loads greater than 3 percent or funds that are closed to new investors, have less than $25 million in assets, have minimums of $10,000 or more, have trust restrictions or are single-state muni-bond funds. All data as of 09/30/09.

Source: Morningstar, Bloomberg

The Louis Rukeyser Honor Roll

Funds that have been on The Rukeyser 100 more than 80 percent of the past three years (at least 29 out of 36 months) make it onto The Louis Rukeyser Honor Roll. Their names are in green and marked with laurels.

On the Move

– A lack of exposure to the financial sector secured Amana Growth’s (AMAGX) position in the Rukeyser 100 throughout the crisis but after an almost two-year run in these pages, it’s finally dropped off for exactly the same reason. But investors holding shares shouldn’t take this as a reason to sell; the fund is up over 28 percent year-to-date and is ranked in the top 13 percent of its category. But many of its peers are heavily invested in the financial sector, which has rallied hard in recent months.

– PIMCO Total Return D (PTTDX) has generated impressive returns after stepping down its exposure to mortgage securities and investment- grade bonds to venture into non-US developed markets, i.e. Europe and some areas of Asia. Going forward, expect the fund to remain tilted towards international markets; management isn’t particularly sanguine about the strength of the domestic recovery.

– Royce Premier (RYPRX) edged out Royce Special Equity (RYSEX) for a spot this month. The former’s heavier exposure to financials, industrial materials and energy has boosted its performance in recent months. The fund has also benefited from being more fully invested, holding just 6.6 percent of assets in cash–Special Equity holds a cash position that amounts to almost 24 percent of its assets.

Funds Added This Month

Aston/Montag & Caldwell Growth N
Bridges Investment
Fidelity Convertible Securities
FMI Focus
Kinetics Medical
Metropolitan West High-Yield Bond M
Northern Intermediate Tax-Exempt
Payden Emerging Markets Bond
PIMCO Total Return D
Roosevelt Multi-Cap
Royce Premier
T Rowe Price Growth & Income
T Rowe Price Mid-Cap Growth
TCW Growth Equities I
Vanguard Intermediate-Term
Tax-Exempt
Vanguard L/T Tax-Exempt

Funds Dropped This Month

Amana Growth
AmCent T/F Bond
Artisan Mid-Cap Value
Aston/River Road Dividend
Buffalo High-Yield
Dreyfus AMT-Free Muni Bond I
Edgewood Growth
MainStay Convertible Inv
Managers Global Bond
Matrix Advisors Value
Parnassus
Royce Special Equity
Rydex NASDAQ-100
T Rowe Price Health Sciences
T Rowe Price T/F Short/Intermediate
Vanguard Intermediate-Term Treasury