Best Stock Pickers Say Easy Money Has Made Their Job Harder

Robert D’Alelio has the kind of long-term record every mutual fund manager aspires to, beating 98 percent of his peers over the past 15 years with the $12.6 billion Neuberger Berman Genesis Fund and crushing his benchmark, the Russell 2000 Index.

D’Alelio’s performance over the past five years isn’t so enviable. He’s fallen behind his yardstick, and he’s got lots of company. Stock pickers including Donald Yacktman at the AMG Yacktman Fund and the team of O. Mason Hawkins and G. Staley Cates at the Longleaf Partners Fund trailed their barometers in the same period after dominating in the prior decade.