Still, within a few years, their firm had become a leader in the move to negotiated commissions and one of Wall Street's stellar performers.

Merck has been a stellar performer in the pharmaceutical industry for years.

"They have a lot of their money tied up in Lorimar stock, and it hasn't been a stellar performer."

The gold funds' average return over a decade kept them on the list of stellar performers even after results had faltered.

Q. Why have the stocks been such stellar performers?

"She has accepted the discipline, and now she's a stellar performer in every aspect of her life."

Still, hedge funds on average have not been stellar performers.

During most of that time, it was a stellar performer, and the Dow would be much higher had it stayed in.

Even so, the researchers note, a stellar performer who is not so kind can still rise to the top.

How did such a stellar performer lose its stride?