AJ Bell has picked out five fund managers who have beaten their peer groups since taking charge of their funds, with technology and AI-linked strategies dominating the list.
Paul Angell, head of investment research at AJ Bell, said star-manager culture is no longer as prominent as it once was in the fund management industry and rising stars should be considered “carefully rather than blindly followed”.
“However, ” he said, “our data suggests that talent continues to come through”,” he said..
He Angell continued: “Fund buyers typically focus on experience and long-term performance track records, therefore short-term performance alone isn’t always enough. It can also be worthwhile to focus on fund managers with established industry experience who have delivered strong performance since taking over a fund.
“The 2026 data shows that rising star fund managers are still out there, even if the industry is less comfortable using the phrase than it once was.”
The analysis covered managers with tenures of between two and five years across IA sectors.
Source: AJ Bell. Data to 30 June 2026.
The strongest performer was Liontrust Global Technology, run by Storm Uru since February 2023 and joined by Clare Pleydell-Bouverie two months later.
The fund has returned 222.1% since Uru took over, against 120.9% for the IA Technology & Telecoms sector – an excess return of 101.2 percentage points over 40 months or 2.5 percentage points a month, the highest average monthly figure in AJ Bell's table.
Its top ten 10 holdings include five of the Magnificent Seven (no Tesla and Microsoft appear), Broadcom, TSMC and SK Hynix. Other well-known names include US connectors company Amphenol and Japanese computer memory manufacturer Kioxia Holdings.
“The fund has clearly benefited from a period in which technology companies, particularly those exposed to AI, semiconductors and digital infrastructure, have dominated global equity markets,” said Angell.
“The obvious risk is that technology leadership has been narrow and valuations in parts of the sector are demanding. A strong technology fund can look brilliant when the market backdrop is supportive, but the true test comes when leadership rotates or expensive growth stocks come under pressure.”
The ongoing charges figure (OCF) is 0.87%.
Performance of fund against index and sector over 1yr
Source: FE Analytics
Second on the list was the £1.2bn T. Rowe Price Global Technology Equity fund, with manager Dominic Rizzo having run the firm's global technology strategies since December 2022.
The fund has returned 219.0% against 139.9% for the peer group, an excess return of 79.0 percentage points over 42 months, or 1.9 percentage points a month.
Compared to its benchmark, the MSCI AC World Information Technology 10/40 Net index, the fund is overweight semiconductor and internet companies (by 11.0 and 2.6 percentage points, respectively) as well financial services; and underweight hardware (-11.0 percentage points) and software names (-4.5).
Angell said the scale of returns across the technology sector made it harder to separate genuine stock-picking skill from being in the right part of the market at the right time.
“The better question for fund buyers is not just who has performed best in the AI-led rally, but who has a process capable of adapting when the next phase of the cycle arrives,” he said.
Performance of fund against sector over 1yr
Source: FE Analytics
Invesco Emerging Markets ex China ranked third.
FE fundinfo Alpha Manager Charles Bond has overseen the fund since March 2022 alongside James McDermottroe, delivering a 138.8% return against 62.0% for the Global Emerging Markets sector – an excess return of 76.9 percentage points over 50 months or 1.54 percentage points a month.
Excluding China gives the fund greater exposure to markets including India, Taiwan, South Korea and Brazil, which Angell said had provided a structural tailwind as China faced its own economic headwinds.
“The performance is impressive, but investors should be clear what they are buying. An emerging markets ex-China strategy is not simply a lower-risk version of emerging markets,” Angell warned.
“It is a different allocation with its own biases, including potentially greater exposure to India, technology hardware, semiconductors and country-specific valuation risks.”
Performance of fund against sector over 1yr
Source: FE Analytics
Next up, LO Funds Asia High Conviction, run by Ashley Chung, Faye Gao and Wee Jia Low since May 2024, returned 90.7% against 59.9% for the Asia Pacific ex Japan sector, an excess return of 30.8 percentage points over 24 months. This performance gained it a maximum FE fundinfo Crown rating of five.
The fund's two-year track record was at the minimum threshold used in the analysis, meaning the managers' tenure was still short relative to the other names on the list.
“The important caveat is that Asia Pacific ex Japan funds can be heavily influenced by country allocation, currency moves and exposure to technology hardware or China-related sentiment,” he said.
“The early relative performance is strong enough to warrant attention, but the next test is whether the process can keep adding value across a less supportive regional backdrop.”
Performance of fund against sector over 1yr
Source: FE Analytics
Finally, M&G Global AI Themes, managed by Jeffrey Lin, rounded out the list with “a very strong” start since launch in October 2023.
“Lin’s challenge will be to show that the fund is more than a market beta play on a popular theme. The early numbers are strong, but the next test will be whether the process can continue to add value if enthusiasm for AI cools or leadership within the theme broadens,” Angell concluded.