HomeInsightsAnalysis

Analysis

Is 2025 the comeback moment for Active Managers?

As broader market gains replace mega-cap dominance, active managers may be resurging in 2025. Learn how diversification and fundamentals are making a comeback.

STOCK PICKERS
“Dust off the ladder. The rest of the orchard is fruiting.”
The share of MSCI World stocks outperforming the index each year from 2006 to mid-2025 mostly hovered just below half, around an average of roughly 45%. It dipped to about a third in 2020, 2023 and 2024, then rose to about 53% in 2025 to date.

For years, the market’s gains have been narrow, dominated by a few mega-cap tech names.

If you weren’t riding those, chances are your portfolio lagged.

But 2025 is starting to tell a different story.

In the first half of the year:

  • The MSCI World ex-USA jumped +19%
  • The S&P 493 (the S&P 500 minus the Magnificent 7) outperformed Big Tech for the first time in years

That’s a big deal for investors relying on active management.

Why? Because when more stocks are contributing to returns, not just a few giants, there’s more room for stock pickers to find real opportunities.

This broadening market means:

  • Diversification starts working again
  • Fundamentals start to matter again
  • Alpha isn't just a fantasy again

After years of passive strategies winning by default, this shift could mark the beginning of a new cycle, one where active investing is back in the game.

If you’ve been questioning your portfolio mix, this might be the time to re-evaluate.

What’s your take? Are you staying passive or leaning back into active?

This article is general market commentary, not investment advice or a personal recommendation. The value of investments can fall as well as rise, and past performance is not a guide to future returns. Written and reviewed under our editorial standards.

Begin with a conversation about what your wealth is for.

Thirty minutes with an adviser who will ask about your family, your plans and the years ahead before anything else. No obligation.