Active equity funds have unveiled their scorecards for the first three quarters of 2026. Against a backdrop of a volatile and diverging A-share market, with technology no longer the sole standout, and with pharma, dividend, and cyclical sectors rotating while major mainstream indices fell overall, the Wind Partial-Equity Hybrid Fund Index, the Wind Flexible Allocation Fund Index, and the Wind Common Stock Fund Index rose 2.33%, 3.2%, and 3.88%, respectively, in the first three quarters of this year.
This shows that the profit-making effect of active equity fund indices still exists. Across 4,623 active equity funds in the entire market with calculable returns for the first three quarters of this year (counting only the main fund code, the same below), 2,360 products recorded positive returns, accounting for about 51%, among which E Fund Supply Reform and E Fund Industry Opportunities A doubled their returns and took the top two spots; 2,263 products recorded negative returns, accounting for about 49%, and 1,028 products fell more than 10% in net value. The gap between the best and worst returns was as wide as 165.41 percentage points.
The 2,263 active equity funds with negative returns came from 153 fund management institutions. Among them, 7 had more than 50 products, with GF Fund ranking first at 90. The 2,360 active equity funds with positive returns came from 150 fund management institutions, among which 24 had more than 30 products, and E Fund and China AMC had 86 and 82 products, respectively, taking the top two spots.
Among active equity funds whose unit net value fell more than 10%, products managed by star fund managers were also numerous. Examples include Penghua Fund's Yan Siqian, HSBC Jintrust Fund's Lu Bin, Quanguo Fund's Zhao Yi, China Universal Fund's Hu Xinwei, Yongying Fund's Gao Nan, Invesco Great Wall Fund's Liu Yanchun, and GF Fund's Lin Yingrui and Zheng Chengran.
Which products rose sharply, and which fell hard?
In the first three quarters of this year, 396 equity funds returned more than 30%, accounting for about 8.57% of the calculable funds. E Fund Supply Reform ranked first among active equity funds with a year-to-date return of 115.67%, followed by E Fund Industry Opportunities A at 111.62%. Huian Trend Power A, Lion Innovation Driven A, and Orient AI Theme A posted year-to-date returns of 96.66%, 94.83%, and 92.68%, ranking third through fifth. The products from sixth to tenth were SWS MU Smart Drive A, Guotai Semiconductor Manufacturing Select A, Caitong Multi-Strategy Fuxin, Yinhua Integrated Circuit A, and Caitong Craftsmanship Preferred One-Year Holding A, with returns of 89.38%, 85.41%, 85.3%, 83.88%, and 82.79%, respectively.
Another three funds, Minsheng Royal JuYou Select A, First Seafront Shanghai-Hong Kong-Shenzhen Enjoy Life, and Huashang Reform Innovation A, returned more than 80%, at 81.98%, 81.77%, and 80.15%, respectively. In addition, 107 active equity funds, including Harvest Enterprise Reform, Dacheng Internet Thinking A, ICBC Emerging Manufacturing A, China Life Safeguard Industrial Upgrade A, Penghua Core Advantage A, Yinhua Zhihui Intrinsic Value A, and E Fund Active Growth, returned more than 50%.
The active equity funds with the highest returns generally concentrated their holdings in technology stocks, with emphasis on sub-sectors such as optical communications and semiconductors. The top ten products by return also overlapped in their top ten heavyweight holdings (as of the end of the second quarter of 2026), such as Skyverse, Kingsemi, ACM Shanghai, Hwatsing Technology, NAURA, Eoptolink, and Yuanjie Semiconductor.
Among active equity funds with negative returns, 326 products fell more than 20%, accounting for about 7.05%. Sorted from smallest to largest decline, the bottom ten were Western Leadbank Green Energy A, Taixin Internet Plus A, China Securities Zhixiang Life A, China Life Safeguard Low Carbon Economy A, Great Wall Emerging Industry A, Xinhua Low Carbon Economy A, Tongtai Huize A, Guotai Growth Preferred, Guotai Jinxin A, and Penghua Manufacturing Upgrade A, with returns of -40.21%, -40.56%, -41.88%, -43.8%, -44.29%, -44.44%, -47.1%, -47.76%, -47.89%, and -49.74%, respectively. Products falling more than 40% also included Gelin Borui A and Tongtai Huili A, with returns of -40.07% and -40.18%. In addition, 63 products fell more than 30%, including Zhongou Carbon Neutrality A, Caitong Asset Management Quality Consumption A, China Merchants Carbon Neutrality Theme A, Debon Great Consumption A, Orient Urban Consumption Theme A, Yongying New Materials Smart Select A, Rongtong Cross-Border Growth A, and SWS MU Smart Car A.
The products with the largest declines also showed distinctive features in their top ten heavyweight holdings: first, low-carbon economy and green energy, including carbon neutrality and energy transition; second, focus on the consumer sector, the internet, and Hong Kong technology industries; third, holdings in emerging industries and growth targets. In addition, aside from the industries of their heavyweight stocks undergoing adjustment and correction during the year, some funds also had problems such as excessive concentration in a single track and switching into individual stocks at high levels, resulting in weak drawdown control during the market style shift in the third quarter.
Which star fund managers shone, and which looked miserable?
Market volatility and performance divergence are also the best test of star fund managers' investment ability. E Fund's Yang Zongchang was undoubtedly the "king" of the first three quarters of this year, as both active equity funds that doubled returns were managed by him alone. Yang Zongchang's sweep of the top two spots was related to precisely allocating the top ten heavyweight holdings in the first half of the year to sub-tracks such as semiconductor equipment, semiconductor materials, and optical modules, fully capturing the gains from those sectors, while successfully cashing in substantial gains before the technology correction in July, and including traditional industry stocks with medium- to long-term investment appeal. In addition, the E Fund Supply Reform and E Fund Industry Opportunities A under Yang Zongchang's leadership also frequently participated in new share subscriptions, acquiring hot stocks such as Zhenbao Technology, Changjin Photonics, and Unitree Robotics-W, creating excess returns for the funds.
The "goddess of medicine," Zhongou star fund manager Ge Lan, also staged a small comeback. The returns of her Zhongou Healthcare and Zhongou Medical Innovation both approached 10% in the first three quarters of this year. In the secondary market, the pharmaceutical and medical sector had been under pressure for multiple consecutive quarters, but it surged in the third quarter of this year, driving large gains in many pharmaceutical-themed funds. As funds in the same theme category, the two funds under Ge Lan's leadership also posted big gains. As of the end of the second quarter of 2026, the market value of the top ten heavyweight holdings of Zhongou Healthcare and Zhongou Medical Innovation accounted for 75.11% and 76.44% of fund net value, respectively.
In addition, star fund managers such as Zhongtai Securities Asset Management's Jiang Cheng, Yongying Fund's Li Wenbin, Yinhua Fund's Li Xiaoxing, Galaxy Fund's Zheng Weishan, E Fund's He Chongkai, E Fund's Zheng Xi, Cinda Australia and New Zealand Fund's Feng Mingyuan, Wanjia Fund's Qiao Liang, and SWS MU Fund's Fu Juan also delivered impressive performance in the first three quarters. At the same time, a large number of star fund managers had miserable performance in the first three quarters of this year. Among equity funds whose returns fell more than 10%, products managed by star fund managers also appeared frequently, such as Penghua Fund's Yan Siqian, HSBC Jintrust Fund's Lu Bin, Quanguo Fund's Zhao Yi, Orient Securities Asset Management's Li Jing, Yinhua Fund's Jiao Wei, First Seafront Fund's Qu Yang, and GF Fund's Lin Yingrui.
Among the six active equity funds managed by Penghua's 10-billion-yuan star fund manager Yan Siqian, five recorded negative returns during the year. The five funds under her leadership, Penghua New Energy Vehicle A, Penghua Carbon Neutrality Theme A, Penghua Shanghai-Hong Kong-Shenzhen Emerging Growth A, Penghua Technology Driven A, and Penghua Manufacturing Upgrade A, all fell more than 20%. Among them, Penghua Manufacturing Upgrade A ranked last among active equity funds in the entire market, at -49.74%. According to "Capital Market Club," Penghua Manufacturing Upgrade had disclosed its top ten heavyweight holdings for three quarters and underwent three rounds of major position adjustments, from the auto parts industry chain, including robot concept stocks, to commercial aerospace and photovoltaic equipment, and then to the artificial intelligence hardware sector. Its stock-switching pace mismatched the rotation of market hot spots, and buying into individual stocks at high levels during rebalancing was unavoidable.
As the "pillar" of HSBC Jintrust Fund's active equity fund managers, Lu Bin also serves as deputy general manager and director of the equity investment department. All seven active equity funds under his management posted negative returns in the first three quarters of this year, each falling more than 20%. These specifically include HSBC Jintrust Longteng A, HSBC Jintrust Low Carbon Pioneer A, HSBC Jintrust Dynamic Strategy A, HSBC Jintrust Era Pioneer A, HSBC Jintrust Core Growth A, HSBC Jintrust Intelligent Manufacturing Pioneer A, and HSBC Jintrust Research Select, with returns of -26.7%, -27.22%, -27.38%, -28.31%, -28.63%, -29.3%, and -29.85%, respectively, all ranking in the bottom one-third of their category. At the same time, the one-year and three-year returns of these seven funds were also all negative, with rankings also at the bottom among similar products. Lu Bin's tenure returns at HSBC Jintrust Core Growth A, appointed on May 24, 2021; HSBC Jintrust Research Select, appointed on January 21, 2022; HSBC Jintrust Longteng A, appointed on April 29, 2022; and HSBC Jintrust Era Pioneer A, appointed on June 8, 2022, were also all negative, at -33.19%, -35.45%, -23.27%, and -39.73%, respectively.
In fact, Lu Bin's medium- to long-term equity investment and research capability has performed very poorly. As of September 30, Lu Bin's investment manager index for public partial-equity funds had negative returns over the past three years and the past five years, at -20.4% and -46.63%, respectively. Nevertheless, the scale of products managed by Lu Bin still accounted for 40% of HSBC Jintrust Fund's active equity funds. As of the end of the second quarter of 2026, the scale of products managed by Lu Bin was 7.355 billion yuan, while HSBC Jintrust Fund's active equity fund management scale was 18.322 billion yuan, accounting for 40.14%.
Zhao Yi, who was promoted to deputy general manager of Quanguo Fund in September this year, also had unsatisfactory performance in the funds he manages. At present, Zhao Yi manages two funds. Quanguo Innovation Growth was just established on June 17, 2026; Quanguo Xuyuan Three-Year Holding A returned -7.48% in the first three quarters of this year, underperforming its performance benchmark. Zhao Yi once became famous for positioning in new energy. Among the top ten heavyweight holdings of Quanguo Xuyuan Three-Year Holding, he still favors power equipment targets, having held Semcorp, Kedali, and CATL for 15 quarters each. As of the end of the second quarter of 2026, the management scale of Quanguo Xuyuan Three-Year Holding was 6.368 billion yuan, down 6.321 billion yuan from 12.689 billion yuan at the end of the fourth quarter of 2025, a direct halving and a decline of 49.81%.
Eight fund companies posted fully positive returns, while 11 suffered an all-out rout
The 2,263 active equity funds with negative returns in the first three quarters came from 153 public fund institutions. Among them, 39 fund companies had more than 20 products with negative performance. GF Fund ranked first among fund companies with 90 active equity funds posting negative returns. It was followed by Fullgoal Fund, Zhongou Fund, Harvest Fund, and China Merchants Fund, whose products recording negative returns during the year numbered 78, 78, 64, and 60, respectively, ranking second through fifth. As of September 30, among GF Fund's 170 active equity funds, 158 had calculable returns for the first three quarters of this year, and the proportion of funds with negative returns was as high as 56.96%.
In addition, 17 fund companies, including Bosera Fund, Dacheng Fund, ICBC Credit Suisse Fund, Guotai Fund, Hua An Fund, China Universal Fund, Invesco Great Wall Fund, Penghua Fund, and First Seafront Fund, each had more than 30 funds posting negative performance in the first three quarters. Shockingly, 11 fund companies, including Industrial Securities Asset Management, Suxin Fund, Quanguo Fund, Peng'an Fund, Mingya Fund, Hongta Hongtu Fund, Hexu Zhiyuan Fund, Guoxin Guozheng Fund, Guodu Securities, Gelin Fund, and Allianz Fund, saw all of their active equity funds post negative returns.
The 2,360 active equity funds with positive returns in the first three quarters involved 150 public fund companies. Among them, 58 fund companies had 15 or more funds with positive returns during the year. Seven fund companies had more than 60 active equity funds with positive returns, namely E Fund, China AMC, GF Fund, Southern Fund, China Universal Fund, Bosera Fund, and Harvest Fund, with 86, 82, 68, 68, 65, 65, and 63, respectively. Another three fund companies, Penghua Fund, Fullgoal Fund, and Hua An Fund, had more than 50 active equity funds with positive returns, at 58, 55, and 52, respectively. There were also 14 fund companies with more than 30 such products, including Zhongou Fund, China Merchants Fund, Cinda Australia and New Zealand Fund, Orient Securities Asset Management, Bank of Communications Schroder Fund, Huatai-PineBridge Fund, and ICBC Credit Suisse Fund.
"Capital Market Club" found through statistics that eight fund companies had all of their active equity funds post positive returns, namely China Merchants Securities Asset Management, Pioneer Fund, Ruida Fund, AllianceBernstein Fund, Huibaichuan Fund, Huatai Securities Asset Management, Hive Fund, and Baijia Fund, all small and medium-sized fund companies. In addition, in the first three quarters of this year, 55 fund companies had active equity funds mainly posting positive returns, including not only leading fund companies such as Bosera Fund, China AMC, E Fund, Tianhong Fund, China Universal Fund, Southern Fund, Penghua Fund, Invesco Great Wall Fund, and Industrial Securities Global, but also small and medium-sized fund companies such as Jinying Fund, Minsheng Royal Fund, Cinda Australia and New Zealand Fund, Guojin Fund, and Soochow Fund.
In the first three quarters of 2026, the scorecard for active equity funds showed a "world of ice and fire." Funds that had surged earlier slightly underperformed those that could hold their ground. Was the fund you hold a winner or a loser? MACD golden cross signals have formed, and these stocks are rising well!