The firm's successful stock-picking mutual funds fueled its rise to prominence, and it has adapted well to investor preferences that have shifted markedly over the past two decades. Index funds and exchange-traded funds have garnered most of the industry's flows as money has gushed from actively managed products—Fidelity's included. Yet overall, the asset-management division has continued to achieve positive organic growth by introducing or maintaining aggressive pricing on its own suite of passively managed funds and expanding its menu of client-demanded investment structures, such as managed accounts and collective investment trusts. These moves are made possible by the firm's strong distribution network, scale, established brand, and willingness to tolerate losses on some products in pursuit of broader strategic objectives.
The firm is not without blemishes. It could stand to rationalize its lineup of active equity funds and do better to maintain continuity in an equity fund's portfolio construction as the fund's leadership inevitably changes.
Overall, the firm has served its funds' investors well. It boasts a topnotch fixed-income division and remains home to some of the industry's most talented equity managers and a strong team supporting its well-run target-date series.