The latest freefincal Equity Mutual Fund Performance Screener is now available. Use it to screen for consistently performing equity mutual funds. You can screen based on fund category & benchmark and spot mutual funds with a higher return than a benchmark at a lower risk. Inside, you get discounted links to our robo advisory tool and two courses: How to get people to pay for your skills (aka earn from skills) and the lectures on goal-based portfolio management.
Use this screener file to quickly find the best-performing equity funds among 300+ equity funds that have consistently outperformed category benchmarks/indices with adequate downside protection (better performance when the index is down) and upside performance (better performance when the index is up).
Note: Always check the history of a fund. See if its investment mandate was different in the past. If that is the case, then past performance does not matter!
What does this Equity Mutual Fund Performance Screener cover?
It gives you three outputs:
- Rolling return outperformance consistency: the fund returns are compared with category benchmark returns over every possible 1Y,2Y,3Y,4Y, and 5Y period. The higher the outperformance consistency, the better. Suppose 876 fund returns were compared with 876 benchmark returns, and the fund has beaten the benchmark 675 times. The consistency score will be 675/876 ~ 77%.
- Upside performance consistency over every possible 1Y,2Y,3Y,4Y, and 5Y: The higher, the better. A score of 70% means that 7 out of 10 times, the fund performed better than the category benchmark when the benchmark increased. This is a measure of reward.
- Downside performance consistency over every possible 1Y,2Y,3Y,4Y, and 5Y: The higher, the better. A score of 60% means 6 out of 10 times, the fund performed better than the category benchmark when the benchmark was moving down. This is a measure of risk protection.
When to use this mutual fund screener
I recommend using this file only after completing the following steps: Define need and duration —-> Decide asset allocation (use this tool) —-> Decide product category (use this guideline for mutual funds) —-> Then apply this screener for equity funds. If you open the screener file, you see column headings like this. 
You know the fund category, benchmark, Fund name, no of 1Y returns of the benchmark(index), no of 1Y returns of the fund, no of times the fund 1Y return is above index 1Y return, the 1Y rolling return consistency; upside performance consistency and downside protection consistency. These columns are repeated for 2Y,3Y,4Y and 5Y. Now, you can screen by filtering out funds with return outperformance consistency of >=70%, a downside protection consistency of >= 70% and so on. As shown below, you can do this manually with the Excel filter and macro buttons. 
Benchmarks Used
These are benchmarks closest to the fund type and are used by many funds in each category.
| Category | Benchmark |
| Aggressive Hybrid Fund | Nifty 100 TRI, CRISIL 65:35 Aggressive Hybrid Index, NIfty 100 Low Volatility 30 TRI |
| Contra Fund | Nifty 100 TRI, NIfty 100 Low Volatility 30 TRI |
| Dividend Yield Fund | Nifty 100 TRI, NIfty 100 Low Volatility 30 TRI |
| Large Cap Fund | Nifty 100 TRI, NIfty 100 Low Volatility 30 TRI |
| ELSS | Nifty 100 TRI |
| Focussed Fund | Nifty Largemidcap 250 TRI, N200TRI |
| Large & Mid Cap Fund | Nifty Largemidcap 250 TRI, N200TRI |
| Multi-Cap Fund | Nifty Largemidcap 250 TRI, N200TRI |
| Flexi-Cap Fund | NIFTY 500 Multicap 50:25:25 TRI, Nifty Largemidcap 250 TRI, N200TRI |
| Sectoral/ Thematic | Nifty Largemidcap 250 TRI, NIfty 100 Low Volatility 30 TRI |
| Value Fund | Nifty Largemidcap 250 TRI, NIfty 100 Low Volatility 30 TRI |
| Mid Cap Fund | NiftyMidcap150TRI, Nifty Midcap 150 Quality 30 TRI |
| Small Cap Fund | NiftyMidcap150TRI, Nifty Midcap 150 Quality 30 TRI, Nifty Smallcap 250 Quality 50 TRI |
NIfty Largemidcap 250 has 50% of the Nifty 100 and 50% of the Nifty Midcap 150.
Screen for funds with higher than benchmark returns with lower risk
Reward measure: Rolling returns outperformance consistency.
Rolling returns are a simple estimate of how consistently a fund has outperformed a benchmark. Take the case of Quantum Long Term Equity (the fund in the graph below) and BSE Large Cap (index in the chart below). Between 31st Aug 2008 and 13th Oct 2017, there are 991, a 7-year duration. If the return for each of these durations is plotted for the fund and index together, we will get a graph like this.
The corresponding entries in the screener sheet would be as below (this is an example):
Notice that all 991 fund returns are higher than the chosen index. Thus, the rolling return outperformance consistency over seven years = 991/991 = 100%. Naturally, the higher the rolling return outperformance consistency, the better.
Reward and Risk Measure: Upside Performance & Downside Capture
If you wish to understand how these are calculated, please read this: Introduction to Downside and Upside Capture Ratios and proceed to this one, for example. For some funds, a high downside capture consistency will lead to better returns; for some funds, a high upside capture consistency will lead to better returns. The screener can help distinguish between the two types of performers. Recommend reading: What is mutual fund downside protection, and why is it important?
How to use the Equity Mutual Fund Performance Screener
There are multiple ways to screen for mutual funds. I will discuss two examples. If you are investing with a clear strategy, you should know what category fund to choose. So, the first step is to select the category. You can either use the macro buttons (top right), Or you can do this manually: 
Then, method A: Set the 3Y and 5Y rolling return outperformance consistency to be above 70% or so. That should give you a nice shortlist to choose from. Then, you can visually look for funds with the right downside protection consistency and pick one. Method B: Look for funds above 70% downside protection consistency over 3Y and 5Y and choose one. Remember, never set narrow filters and do not be too demanding. Wanting to select the fund with the best past performance is plain immaturity. Your screening criteria should yield 5-6 funds at all times. Why should I use this screener? Why can’t I look at trailing returns and screen? Trailing returns are 3Y or 5Y returns calculated with the last business date (3Y and 5Y prior). This is just one data point to consider. Here, we find a lot more to determine consistency.
Excess Risk vs Excess Return Screener
Here, you can screen for funds with excess return > 0 in the last 1,2,3,4,5 year trailing periods. This means the fund return is greater than the index return. You can also add excess risk < 0 filters for the same periods. This means that the fund risk is less than the index risk. Hence, the excess risk is negative. Both screenshots are shown below.
The above screenshot is for excess return >0, and the one below is for excess risk < 0
The idea here is to find funds that have beaten the index in terms of higher returns (excess return >0) and lower risk (excess risk <0) in the last 1,2,3,4,5 year period. You can relax it to 3/4/5 year periods if you wish.
How to screen for the best equity funds
Important Information
- This screener costs Rs. 150 and is meant for personal use only.
- Inside, you get a discounted link to our robo advisory tool and our two courses: How to get people to pay for your skills (aka earn from skills) and the lectures on goal-based portfolio management.
- The cost is only for the data in the sheet.
- You will get a zipped file. It has one Excel file with macros. If you wish to use the automated screener, you must enable macros. If macros are disabled or you want to use them on Google Sheets or elsewhere, the plain data will still be available. The plain data file can be used on any spreadsheet.
- While freefincal will do its best to publish updated screener sheets each month, it cannot guarantee the same.
- The file contains no buy or sell recommendations and only has the abovementioned data.
- Enough care and effort have been put in to weed out errors. However, we cannot guarantee that the sheet is free of error.
- The buyer will have to research using the information in the spreadsheet. No recommendations or assistance are included in the sheet and will not be provided separately.
- We will not provide any further help or assistance in using the sheet.
- The sheet purchased is for personal use and should not be shared privately or publicly. A purchase implies you agree to the terms in the important information section.
Click here to pay Rs. 150 and download (instantly) the latest Freefincal Equity Mutual Fund Screener.
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Dr. M. Pattabiraman(PhD) is the founder, managing editor and primary author of freefincal. He is an associate professor at the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras. He has over ten years of experience publishing news analysis, research and financial product development. Connect with him via Twitter, Linkedin, or YouTube. Pattabiraman has co-authored three print books: (1) You can be rich too with goal-based investing (CNBC TV18) for DIY investors. (2) Gamechanger for young earners. (3) Chinchu Gets a Superpower! for kids. He has also written seven other free e-books on various money management topics. He is a patron and co-founder of “Fee-only India,” an organisation promoting unbiased, commission-free investment advice.
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