Utilities funds were the star performers of 2011

Boring and big were beautiful in 2011. The top-performing stock mutual funds of the year invested in dividend-paying companies whose stocks typically are less volatile than the market as a whole. Special recognition goes to mutual funds that invest in utilities stocks.

Seven of the year's top 10 U.S. stock funds were utilities sector funds, including top-ranked ProFunds Utilities UltraSector, which returned nearly 26 percent. Two among the top 10 specialize in stocks of drug makers, another area of the market where dividends are common. Each of the top 10 posted a return greater than 16 percent. That's standout performance in a year when the Standard & Poor's 500 index ended almost exactly where it started.

Source: Times Union

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