Over a study period of 15 years, active managers in intermediate-term bonds, real estate and foreign large-cap blended category funds had the highest rates of success -- yet the most successful active managers, in intermediate-term bond funds, only posted a 34.4 percent success rate.
The Active/Passive Barometer measures net-of-fee performance, rather than comparing actively managed funds against a costless index, Morningstar uses a blend of actual passive funds as a basis of comparison. Morningstar also uses the category classification of a mutual fund at the beginning of the period of study to reflect investor choices.