Charting Success with NorthStar

How a fortunate turn changed the course for this multi-managed stock fund.

Luke Richardson 30 January, 2025 | 6:24PM
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Fidelity NorthStar hasn’t always been a top performer, but it could be counted on for downside protection. An important change five years ago helped the fund capture extra upside, making it one of the top names in the Global Small-Mid Cap category.

From October 2011 to November 2019, Fidelity NorthStar’s two skilled managers, Joel Tillinghast and Daniel Dupont, each ran half the strategy. Both are strong stock pickers, employing unique approaches to finding resilient companies that aren’t too pricey, including many outside North America.

Over this period, NorthStar Series F gained 12% annualized with low risk, beating its peer group but lagging the Morningstar Global Markets Small-Mid Cap Index by more than 2.6 percentage points.

In November 2019, Kyle Weaver, manager of Fidelity Advisor Growth Opportunities since 2015 and a former tech analyst, was added as NorthStar’s third manager to boost the fund’s exposure to US stocks, including the pricier tech companies that had dominated the market. Weaver and Dupont each took 25% of the portfolio, while Tillinghast took the remaining half. Tillinghast retired at the end of 2023, leaving longtime co-managers Sam Chamovitz and Morgen Peck in charge of his sleeve. Weaver’s aggressive, high-conviction, growth-oriented approach injected NorthStar with more return potential, as well as more risk.

The change had a big impact. Since Weaver joined through December 2024, NorthStar Series F has gained 12.1%, outpacing the peer group’s 5.5% average and the benchmarks’ 9.7% with less risk, as measured by standard deviation.

The multi-manager strategy has continued to deliver downside protection during downdrafts such as 2022, and it also captured gains in subsequent recoveries.

NorthStar owns many small and micro-cap stocks, but it differs from the Global Markets Small-Mid Cap benchmark. About 45% of the fund’s portfolio was in large-cap or mega-cap stocks, at the end of November 2024. This mix gives NorthStar an advantage when large caps perform well, as they have over the past decade. But it also means it could underperform when small- and mid-cap stocks are in favor. Investors who only want small- and mid-cap exposure should consider other options.

Key Morningstar Metrics for Fidelity NorthStar


Despite Tillinghast’s retirement, Fidelity NorthStar is well-positioned to build on its past success as a defensive strategy with decent upside potential. As 2025 is shaping up to be a year of geopolitical and stock market uncertainty, diversified strategies like NorthStar with exposure to different investment approaches continue to be valuable options.


This article was generated with the help of artificial intelligence and reviewed by Morningstar editors.

The author or authors do not own shares in any securities mentioned in this article. Find out about Morningstar's editorial policies.

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About Author

Luke Richardson  is a Manager Research Analyst at Morningstar.

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