Instead, the top-performing funds in the most recent quarter hold relatively obscure and smaller companies.

Not many investors shared in the good fortune of the top-performing funds.

Even many of the top-performing funds for the fourth quarter declined sharply for the year.

The top-performing mutual fund in the first quarter was American Heritage, with a gain of 48.2 percent.

After glancing at the top-performing funds of the second quarter, investors may be forgiven for wondering if they have somehow gone back to 1999.

Despite that loss, it remains the top-performing fund for the last 12 months.

Despite the risks, the top-performing funds have done only about as well as large company stocks over the last decade.

It may also be possible to profit from the momentum pattern simply by investing in the top-performing mutual funds.

They argue that by marking the close, top-performing funds in effect have borrowed from future quarters to improve their current performance.

During any given year, the previous year's top-performing funds have, on average, beaten the worst performers from the year earlier.