15 Best Fidelity Funds to Buy Now

Fidelity 500 Index Fund

• Assets under management: $353.3 billion
• Dividend yield: 1.3%
• Expenses: 0.015%, or $1.50 annually on every $10,000 invested

The U.S. stock market index of choice for the majority of investors is the Fidelity 500 Index Fund (FXAIX (opens in new tab), $155.97). When it comes to Fidelity funds, FXAIX is one of the simplest ways to get broad exposure to the domestic equities market.

As the name implies, it is benchmarked to the S&P 500 Index, which is the top 500 publicly traded corporations listed on U.S. stock exchanges. And its make up gives investors access to all the big names, including Microsoft (MSFT (opens in new tab)) and Apple (AAPL (opens in new tab)).

The major drawback, if there is one, is that the S&P 500 is weighted by market capitalization. So trillion-dollar tech stocks like MSFT and AAPL represent more than 10% of the entire portfolio combined. And when you add up the top 10 positions, you get 27% or so of the fund's total assets. In this respect, the idea of the S&P being built by 500 total companies doesn't tell the whole story; a small list of heavy hitters can move this index more than other stocks.

Still, many of these companies are big for a reason and investors might not be turned off by the weightings. Furthermore, while the makeup isn't terribly creative, the fees are incredibly cheap at just a few dollars a year for most investors.

Learn more about FXAIX at the Fidelity provider site. (opens in new tab)

Fidelity Nasdaq Composite Index Fund

• Assets under management: $13.1 billion
• Dividend yield: 0.6%
• Expenses: 0.29%

If you're looking for an alternative index fund to the S&P 500, consider the Fidelity Nasdaq Composite Index Fund (FNCMX (opens in new tab), $189.26). FNCMX comprises roughly 3,100 stocks listed on the Nasdaq Composite exchange.

As most investors probably know, the Nasdaq tends to be populated by more tech-oriented companies than the roughly 230-year old New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). In fact, some of the biggest stocks on Wall Street, including Microsoft, Apple and Amazon.com (AMZN (opens in new tab)) are all Nasdaq-listed names.

Of course, this tech focus brings with it some challenges. Consider that the top 10 positions in this fund tally 44% of the entire portfolio to make it even more top-heavy than the FXAIX. Also, the tech sector and closely related telecom sector are the top two areas of focus, respectively, accounting for more than 57% of the fund's total assets.

This is not necessarily a bad thing for investors who really like the growth potential of high-tech stocks or the stability of mega-cap Silicon Valley icons. If that's your investing style, this is one of the best Fidelity funds for you.

Learn more about FNCMX at the Fidelity provider site. (opens in new tab)

Fidelity Small Cap Index Fund

• Assets under management: $21.4 billion
• Dividend yield: 0.9%
• Expenses: 0.025%

If you'd rather look past the typical mega-cap stocks that dominate the most prominent index funds, then consider the Fidelity Small Cap Index Fund (FSSNX (opens in new tab), $28.31). It is made up of roughly 2,000 stocks, with more than 87% having market values of roughly $2 billion or less.

Consider current holdings like hydrogen fuel cell company Plug Power (PLUG (opens in new tab)) or development-stage biopharmaceutical company Novavax (NVAX (opens in new tab)) as representative examples. Both companies are currently unprofitable as they invest heavily in future growth – but in the last 24 months, PLUG stock is up 1,150% or so while NVAX is up 3,600%!

Not every small-cap stock is destined for those kinds of gains, of course. These companies have higher risk profiles that also could result in larger potential losses than the more stable blue chips on Wall Street. But you also can score bigger rewards in the long run if the cards fall right.

Learn more about FSSNX at the Fidelity provider site. (opens in new tab)

Fidelity Mid Cap Index Fund

• Assets under management: $23.2 billion
• Dividend yield: 1.0%
• Expenses: 0.025%

What if rather than go big with Fidelity funds focused on the S&P 500 or Nasdaq, you're looking for those "goldilocks" companies that are neither big nor too small? That's what the Fidelity Mid Cap Index Fund (FSMDX (opens in new tab), $32.00) provides, with an aim to invest in mid-cap stocks with market capitalizations that fall between about the $2 billion and $10 billion.

Some stocks get smaller than the low end of that range after declines and some get larger than the high end when they go on a short-term run. However, if those valuations change for a long enough period of time, then the stock will either graduate into a large-cap fund or be demoted to a small-cap fund to keep the strategy in line.

The resulting makeup of this 800-stock fund is quite interesting, and truly diversified thanks to this narrow band of investments in the equity market. Specifically, no sector is worth more than about 20% of the total assets, with technology (19.6%) at the top. Plus, every position is weighted at less than 0.5% of the portfolio at present. The top stocks currently are social media firm Twitter (TWTR (opens in new tab)) and animal healthcare company IDEXX Laboratories (IDXX (opens in new tab)) at 0.48% apiece.

Learn more about FSMDX at the Fidelity provider site. (opens in new tab)

Fidelity Select Technology Portfolio

• Assets under management: $12.5 billion
• Dividend yield: 0.00%
• Expenses: 0.69%

Speaking of narrow bands of the stock market, some investors might be less interested in sorting stocks by size and instead are interested in specific sectors.

While there is no shortage of tactical ETFs out there, the Fidelity Select Technology Portfolio (FSPTX (opens in new tab), $29.37) allows investors a mutual fund to play this high-growth sector – and one that does so in an active way instead of traditional index funds.

Right now, FSPTX owns just 113 stocks. You'll find heavy weightings in fan favorites like Microsoft, but you'll also find $9-billion solar technology firm Sunrun (RUN (opens in new tab)) among its top 10 positions right now. That's not the typical makeup you'll find in a passive tech ETF.

Of course, fees are a bit steeper than a simple index fund that buys all the Silicon Valley giants. However, Fidelity funds have historically empowered active managers – so if you're concerned about some kind of shakeup in the market, the hands-on approach of FSPTX might provide some peace of mind.

Learn more about FSPTX at the Fidelity provider site. (opens in new tab)

Fidelity Select Health Care Portfolio

• Assets under management: $10.9 billion
• Dividend yield: 0.45%
• Expenses: 0.69%

Another sector-oriented fund that could be worth a look is the Fidelity Select Health Care Portfolio (FSPHX (opens in new tab), $34.19). As many investors know, healthcare is one of the more reliable sectors on Wall Street thanks to a constant flow of "customers" as people age and experience medical issues regardless of the macroeconomic outlook.

And without moralizing about the state of American healthcare, it's important to also acknowledge that inflation in U.S. healthcare costs is equally reliable. Consider that the typical American spends 740% more on insurance than they did roughly two decades ago, according to data company Clever (opens in new tab).

If you want to follow that constant increase in spending, then why not focus on this sector? FSPHX provides a simple and diversified way to do so. The fund owns about 120 total stocks, with top holdings right now including insurance giant UnitedHealthGroup (UNH (opens in new tab)), as well as mid-sized vascular device company Penumbra (PEN (opens in new tab)).

Admittedly, this is one of the Fidelity funds featured here that has lagged the broader market over the last year or so as the initial surge in healthcare stocks prompted by the pandemic has abated more recently. However, the fund's manager has been at the helm since 2008 and has a lot of experience riding the ups and downs of the sector with an eye on the long term.

Learn more about FSPHX at the Fidelity provider site. (opens in new tab)

Fidelity Blue Chip Growth Fund

• Assets under management: $56.9 billion
• Dividend yield: 0.00%
• Expenses: 0.79%

If you like the notion of active management but want to look beyond sector funds, the Fidelity Blue Chip Growth Fund (FBGRX (opens in new tab), $193.26) might be right for you. FBGRX offers a way to get more strategic about your exposure to large U.S. stocks without limiting your approach to just one sector.

This Fidelity fund owns about 450 or so blue-chip stocks. But lest you think this is just a mirror image of the FXAIX, it's important to point out the weightings and makeup are very different, even if many of the same names are on the list.

Case in point: $16-billion ride sharing company Lyft (LYFT (opens in new tab)) cracks FBGRX's top 10 components, whereas, in a typical fund weighted by market capitalization, it would be dwarfed by trillion-dollar Silicon Valley stocks like Apple. Those top 10 components also represent a heck of a lot more of the portfolio in this top-heavy fund, currently at 45% of total assets.

This bias toward a short list of favorites is also evident in the sector breakdown of FBGRX. Of the 11 standard S&P 500 sectors, six of them rate at roughly 2.5% weightings or less – with almost 82% of stocks spread across three sectors (technology at 37.2%, consumer discretionary at 27.1% and communication services at 17.5%).

There's obviously more risk when you go all-in on a short list of stocks or sectors. However, based on the fact this fund is up about 175% in the last five years versus roughly 106% for the S&P 500 Index, clearly this approach can work when the environment is right.

Learn more about FBGRX at the Fidelity provider site. (opens in new tab)

Fidelity Contrafund

• Assets under management: $144.6 billion
• Dividend yield: 0.00%
• Expenses: 0.86%

Fidelity Contrafund (FCNTX (opens in new tab), $19.74) is one of the big-name funds that has made this asset manager as dominant as it is. Over the last 20 years, Contrafund has regularly outperformed both the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 Index to tack on a 350% return in that period.

A core holding for almost every long-term, growth-oriented portfolio, the fund holds a focused list of about 300 or so top stocks. And more importantly, it isn't afraid to go with big weightings towards names it believes in.

Specifically, right now social media giant Facebook (FB (opens in new tab)) and e-commerce king Amazon.com collectively represent almost 19% of the entire portfolio between them. This shows both the blessing and the curse of this approach: while Facebook has put in a solid outperformance against the S&P 500 so far in 2021, AMZN has lagged.

When things go well based on the "secret sauce" that Contrafund deploys via its active-management style, FCNTX can handily exceed the standard passive funds out there. But keep in mind, this is one of the pricier Fidelity funds on this list, with the expenses here at 25 to 30 times the cheapest S&P index funds. Translation: FCNTX's outperformance needs to be consistent for this fund to be worth your while.

Learn more about FCNTX at the Fidelity provider site. (opens in new tab)

Fidelity Magellan Fund

• Assets under management: $29.9 billion
• Dividend yield: 0.0%
• Expenses: 0.79%

Fidelity Magellan Fund (FMAGX (opens in new tab), $14.82) is more focused than the Contrafund, with less than 70 total positions. The approach is very much centered on domestic large-cap stocks. However, there is a smidge of international investments that are included in FMAGX, based on what the managers are interested in right now.

Those managers set the tone for the fund in a big way, as you can imagine. In fact, Magellan had one of the most enviable track records on Wall Street, as it experienced massive growth under the management of the iconic Peter Lynch from 1977 to 1990.

Unfortunately, Magellan has been out of step with the market lately as it has "only" tacked on about 21% in the last 12 months, compared with more than 30% for the major U.S. stock market indexes. And with an expense ratio that's pretty high, that underperformance is amplified when you layer on fees.

However, its fund manager insists this lagging short-term performance amid the coronavirus recovery trend should not dissuade investors from "longer-term trends in demographics and productivity" that continue to drive his core investing decisions. If you believe that and share this long-term view, then FMAGX might be one of the best Fidelity funds for you.

Learn more about FMAGX at the Fidelity provider site.

Fidelity International Discovery Fund

• Assets under management: $11.1 billion
• Dividend yield: 0.4%
• Expenses: 1.0%

Looking overseas, Fidelity International Discovery Fund (FIGRX (opens in new tab), $59.52) is a core international holding for investors wanting growth, but also diversification beyond U.S. markets. Less than 3% of the fund's roughly 175-stock portfolio is made up of domestic companies, with developed markets including Japan (15%) and the U.K. (13%) as the most influential regions.

That means a smattering of foreign but familiar names, including Switzerland-based drugmaker Roche Holding (RHHBY (opens in new tab)) and German industrial giant Siemens (SIEGY (opens in new tab)) near the top of the list of holdings. Emerging markets are also represented, accounting for about 12.6% of FIGRX's total asset allocation.

It's worth noting that over the last few years, U.S. stocks have handily outperformed the rest of the world. Specifically, Fidelity International Discovery is up just 50% or so since mid-2016, while the S&P 500 has roughly doubled in the same five-year period.

However, if you don't expect this underperformance to continue or if you simply want to hedge your bets with diversification overseas, this actively managed global fund helps take the guesswork out of looking for international stocks.

Learn more about FIGRX at the Fidelity provider site. (opens in new tab)

Fidelity Dividend Growth Fund

• Assets under management: $6.9 billion
• Dividend yield: 1.6%
• Expenses: 0.49%

Another different "flavor" of stock investing is to look for companies that offer income via dividends, instead of just the potential for capital appreciation. Fidelity Dividend Growth Fund (FDGFX (opens in new tab), $37.16) offers this approach, with a narrow list of about 150 large-cap dividend payers that the fund's managers think are the best-equipped to deliver long-term income, as well as reliable share price performance.

Right now, top holdings include growth-oriented digital payments giant Visa (V (opens in new tab)), as well as embattled industrial giant General Electric (GE (opens in new tab)). Long-term dividend investors might find this second stock less than appealing, given GE's history of dividend cuts since the financial crisis. However, this is a great example of how FDGFX tries to thread the needle between reliable plays like Visa, but also stocks like GE that managers expect to see significant dividend growth in the years ahead based on their projections of the business. And honestly, with GE only paying a penny per share in dividends, it's not like the distributions could get any smaller unless they are killed altogether.

The yield for FDGFX is slightly better than the typical S&P 500 stock, currently sitting at about 1.6%. But as the name implies, this Fidelity fund is all about the potential for future dividend growth – so if the strategy pays off, your actual yield will grow over time if things go as planned.

Learn more about FDGFX at the Fidelity provider site. (opens in new tab)

Fidelity Investment Grade Bond Fund

• Assets under management: $6.9 billion
• SEC yield: 1.2%*
• Expenses: 0.45%

Another way to generate a steady stream of income from your investment portfolio is to look beyond stocks to bonds. This asset class is much more stable than stocks, meaning investors don't shoulder as much risk of losing principal value. And this stability can come with reliable yields. The trade off, though, is that bond funds don't experience the same potential for growth as equity ones do.

The Fidelity Investment Grade Bond Fund (FBNDX (opens in new tab), $8.48) focuses only on "investment grade" bond issues – that is, loans taken out by the most credit-worthy entities. Top issuers at present include the U.S. Treasury and government-backed mortgage entities like Fannie Mae, along with top-rated corporations like Goldman Sachs (GS (opens in new tab)).

Seeing as the chances of Uncle Sam or big megabanks defaulting on their bond debt are incredibly slim, this is one of the Fidelity funds featured here that you can hang on with confidence for the very long term.

There are about 1,400 different bonds that make up the current portfolio, adding up to a yield of about 1.2%. That's not terribly large and only slightly bigger than the S&P 500 at present, but keep in mind that capital preservation is as much the name of the game as income is – and FBNDX has a portfolio that's built to last.

*SEC yields reflect the interest earned after deducting fund expenses for the most recent 30-day period and are a standard measure for bond and preferred-stock funds.

Learn more about FBNDX at the Fidelity provider site. (opens in new tab)

Fidelity Strategic Income Fund

• Assets under management: $16.6 billion
• SEC yield: 2.0%
• Expenses: 0.67%

Of course, not all investors are willing to trade bigger income potential simply for the greater reliability that investment-grade bonds offer. That's where Fidelity Strategic Income Fund (FADMX (opens in new tab), $12.99) comes in, as it is a multisector bond fund that not only looks at the most reliable bonds, but also the next tier down of debt offerings – colloquially referred to as "junk bonds."

As with consumer finance, less credit-worthy borrowers have to pay a higher premium to the lenders in order to offset the risk of them not making their planned payments on time. In the bond market, the investors are the lenders – and the higher-risk borrowers are battered corporations that have seen better days, but still need ready capital to operate.

So, thanks to an eclectic mix of bulletproof bonds from the U.S. Treasury that yield less than 2% and those of small fry consumer finance firm Ally Financial (ALLY (opens in new tab)) that yield 8%, FADMX more than doubles the potential payday of the prior investment-grade bond fund with its current yield of 2%.

There is greater risk here, of course, but with an experienced team managing this fund, it could be a great fit for those looking at generating a bit more yield than the typical bond fund.

Learn more about FADMX at the Fidelity provider site. (opens in new tab)

Fidelity Balanced Fund

• Assets under management: $47.1 billion
• SEC yield: 0.7%
• Expenses: 0.52%

If all these Fidelity funds sound interesting in some way but you're having trouble deciding, then why not just go with a one-stop offering via the Fidelity Balanced Fund (FBALX (opens in new tab), $32.04)?

This "asset allocation" fund is not limited to just stocks or bonds, but instead targets a roughly 60% allocation in stocks and a 40% allocation in bonds during a typical market – and builds a holistic portfolio for you. Those stocks are not restricted by hard limits on geography or size, either.

As a great illustration of this, the FBALX portfolio currently holds long-term U.S. Treasury bonds in its top holdings alongside mega-cap insurer UnitedHealthGroup and mid-cap electronic component company Jabil (JBL (opens in new tab)). That's quite a wide swath of the market to cover!

Interestingly enough, FBALX is one of the more affordable active funds in Fidelity's repertoire – meaning you can get the expertise you're looking for and a hands-on approach to asset allocation without paying out the nose on fees.

Learn more about FBALX at the Fidelity provider site. (opens in new tab)

Fidelity Multi-Asset Income Fund

• Assets under management: $1.3 billion
• SEC yield: 6.2%
• Expenses: 0.85%

A slightly different approach to an asset allocation portfolio is the Fidelity Multi-Asset Income Fund (FMSDX (opens in new tab), $14.64) that prioritizes income potential over the long term. So while the prior Fidelity Balanced Fund yields less than 1% a year thanks to its focus on equities that don't pay dividends, FMSDX generates a whopping 6% yield thanks to a target of 40% to 70% of the portfolio in bonds.

Currently, FMSDX is at the lower end of that range as it is loaded up on equities in response to a rising interest rate environment. But even so, it's throwing off a yield that is about four times the S&P 500.

Be warned, however, that this yield is generated from junk bonds – specifically, 24% of the FMSDX portfolio at present is in "non-investment grade" bonds. As discussed previously, this comes with risk, as distressed companies might pay more in interest, but also carry a higher chance of default.

Still, if you are willing to take on exposure to less flashy companies like this in exchange for big income, this Fidelity fund could be worth a look.

Learn more about FMSDX at the Fidelity provider site. (opens in new tab)