With the announcement of the end of December 2024, the year's hustle and bustle in the A-share market has come to an end, and the battle for public fund rankings has also been finalized. The 2024 annual active equity fund performance rankings present several highlights: first, Morgan Stanley Digital Economy managed by Lei Zhiyong took the top spot on the 2024 annual active equity fund performance list with a return of 69.23%; second, the five products managed by Jin Zicai, including Caifutong Prosperity Selection for one year, Caifutong Growth Optimized, Caifutong Artisan Optimized for one year, Caifutong Smart Growth, and Caifutong Multi-Strategy Fuxin, achieved net return rates of 51.85%, 48.62%, 48.09%, 46.82%, and 45.66% respectively in 2024, ranking second, sixth, seventh, eighth, and tenth on the semi-annual performance list of active equity funds. At the same time, the Industrial Bank New Emerging Manufacturing fund, co-managed by Zhang Yufan and Marina, ranked third on the list with an annual return of 50.28%. Wang Xiaochuan's Yinhan Digital Economy, Zhou Desheng's Guorong Rongsheng Longhead Strict Selection, and Debang Xinxing Value managed by Lei Tao and Lu Yang also entered the top ten list of active equity fund performance in 2024 with returns of 50.00%, 48.96%, and 46.26% respectively. It is understood that in order to compete for a higher year-end performance ranking, some funds with good performance have reduced operations to lock in profits, while others have engaged in other "operations" such as restricting large purchases, actively adjusting positions, pushing up heavily weighted stocks, and some fund companies have ended assessments early to start planning for 2025. Champion Camp with High AI Content As a traditional year-end program, the battle for fund rankings is heating up. In terms of performance ranking, funds heavily invested in the AI sector have dominated the rankings for much of 2024 due to the structured market conditions. The final results also reflect this trend. According to Wind data, as of December 31st, a total of 2765 active equity funds achieved positive returns in the year, accounting for 65.21% of the total. 270 active equity funds had returns of over 20% for the year, with 23 funds exceeding 40%, and only 4 with returns of over 50%. One of the highlights of the active equity fund performance list is undoubtedly Morgan Stanley Digital Economy, managed by Lei Zhiyong, which achieved a return of 69.23%, surpassing the runner-up on the annual performance list by 17.38 percentage points, becoming the uncontested annual performance champion in the entire market. As a fund manager who emerged in the early part of 2024, Lei Zhiyong's Morgan Stanley Digital Economy mainly focuses on the AI theme, with heavily weighted stocks including InterDigital, New Easyup, Hudian Shares, and Industrial Fulian. At the end of November, the top spot for annual performance in active equity funds was held by Zhou Desheng's Guorong Rongsheng Longhead Strict Selection, with Morgan Stanley Digital Economy coming in second. Today, Guorong Rongsheng Longhead Strict Selection has dropped to fifth place, with an annual return of 48.96%. As a fund mainly invested in the computing power sector, while also considering other sectors such as the semiconductor and financial technology industries, Guorong Rongsheng Longhead Strict Selection's top holdings at the end of the third quarter included InterDigital, Compass, Oriental Fortune, Taicheng Light, and Shunluo Electronics. Another major highlight of the active equity fund performance list is the five products managed by Jin Zicai, which include Caifutong Prosperity Selection for one year, Caifutong Growth Optimized, Caifutong Artisan Optimized for one year, Caifutong Smart Growth, and Caifutong Multi-Strategy Fuxin. These products have all entered the top ten list of revenue rankings, with net return rates of 51.85%, 48.62%, 48.09%, 46.82%, and 45.66% respectively in 2024, ranking second, sixth, seventh, eighth, and tenth on the semi-annual performance list of active equity funds. This has made Jin Zicai almost the "big winner" among active equity fund managers in 2024. Meanwhile, the Industrial Bank New Emerging Manufacturing fund, co-managed by Zhang Yufan and Marina, ranked third on the list with an annual return of 50.6%. Wang Xiaochuan's Yinhan Digital Economy and Debang Xinxing Value, co-managed by Lei Tao and Lu Yang, also entered the top ten list of active equity fund performance in 2024 with returns of 50.00% and 46.26%, respectively, ranking fourth and ninth. Many of these products made significant gains in the final month of 2024, resulting in a rise in rankings. Data shows that a total of 10 active equity funds had a monthly net asset value growth rate of over 10%. For example, Debang Xinxing Value saw a net asset value growth rate of 13.56% in December 2024, making it the most outstanding product among active equity funds established for over a year. At the same time, Morgan Stanley Digital Economy also had a return of 11.61% in December; several products including Caifutong Prosperity Selection for one year, Caifutong Artisan Optimized for one year, and Caifutong Smart Growth, among others, all had returns in December exceeding 9% and made it to the top ten list. Overall, the top ten list of annual returns of active equity funds includes both medium-sized fund companies such as Morgan Stanley Fund, Guorong Fund, Debang Fund, Caifutong Fund, as well as large public funds such as Yinhan Fund and Industrial Bank Ruisin Fund. However, in general, there are mostly "new faces" on the list, with several emerging "rising stars" in 2024, including Lei Zhiyong, Wang Xiaochuan, Zhou Desheng, Zhang Yufan, Marina, Lei Tao, and Lu Yang, while the only veteran player to make it to the top ten is Jin Zicai. Where Are the Former Champions Now? Just half a month ago, "players" who were still in the top ten rankings, such as CMB Technology Momentum 3-month rolling, Huaxia Dragon Select, Western Lide Digital Industry, Western Lide New Momentum, Tongtai Financial Select, fell out of the top ten rankings in the year-end battle due to a slightly less aggressive approach. However, their overall performance in 2024 remains strong. Data shows that Zhang Lin's CMB Technology Momentum 3-month rolling achieved a return of 45.34% in 2024, ranking eleventh in performance rankings; Han Hao's China Aviation Opportunities Navigation had a return of 43.68% in 2024, ranking twelfth; and He Qi's two products, Western Lide Digital Industry.In terms of income, Western Liberty and New Power increased by 44.10% and 37.90% in 2024 respectively, ranking fourteenth and thirtieth on the list.The Huaxia Dragon Selection managed by Sng Blng, the Hongli emerging leader, Hongli growth, and Hongli high R&D innovation products overseen by Wng Png, all saw returns of over 40% in 2024. It is worth mentioning that some of the previous "champions" of actively managed equity funds in the past few years still achieved good performance in 2024. For example, G Xnfng, benefited from the phase of the market demonstrated by the Beijiao Exchange in the past year, the Huaxia Beijiao Exchange Innovative Small and Medium Enterprises Selective Two-Year Interval Fund managed by him achieved a return of 28.16% in 2024. This product once won the championship of actively managed equity funds in 2023 with a return rate of 58.56%. The fund manager Li Yunhi, who once showed the "champion demeanor" in 2023, still performed well in 2024. Data shows that the East W Jih Advantage, East W New Trend Value Line, East W Mobile Internet, and East W New Energy Vehicles managed by him achieved returns of 36.27%, 36.09%, 32.40%, and 18.26% in 2024 respectively. Hung Hi, the champion fund manager of actively managed equity funds in 2022, most of his products showed positive returns in 2024, but the overall performance was not outstanding. The former champion fund -- Wanjia Macro Timing Multi-Strategy only had a return of 1.28% in 2024, while Wanjia Selected and Wanjia Xinli had annual returns of 3.20% and -0.04% respectively. The champion fund manager in 2021, Cu Chnlng, also had a relatively mediocre performance in the past year. Out of the six products he managed, three products showed positive returns in 2024, while the other three had negative returns. The returns of Qianhai Kaiyuan Utilities, Qianhai Kaiyuan Shanghai-Hong Kong-Shenzhen Wisdom, and Qianhai Kaiyuan Shanghai-Hong Kong-Shenzhen New Opportunities were 7.00%, 6.47%, and 5.22% respectively in 2024; while Qianhai Kaiyuan Emerging Industries, Qianhai Kaiyuan New Economy, and Qianhai Kaiyuan Shanghai-Hong Kong-Shenzhen Non-Cyclical had net asset value falls of 13.81%, 5.98%, and 0.98% respectively in the past year. This article is reprinted from Cailianshe, reporter: Shn Shhng; GMTEight editor: Hung Xiodng.