In their US mutual fund performance update note Wednesday, analysts at Bank of America said actively managed funds narrowly beat passive funds in February.
The firm revealed that active funds posted solid results in February, with 54% of large-cap funds beating their benchmark by an average of 3bp.
"Narrow market breadth continued to create a challenging backdrop for managers (only 26% of stocks outperformed the S&P 500 last month), but we still see other supportive trends for stock pickers," wrote the firm.
"Year-to-date (YTD), 63% of funds are ahead of their benchmark, much stronger than the average annual hit rate of 37%," BofA added.
Analysts at the investment bank also noted that quant funds posted a strong performance, with 70% ahead of the Russell 1000 in February and 75% ahead year-to-date.
Growth funds led across all size segments in February, with 58% of large-cap growth funds outperforming compared to 53% of value funds and 48% of core funds.