The U.K.'s vote to leave the European Union -- Brexit -- was as dazzling as an opening ceremony of the Olympics. But instead of being uplifting, Brexit's fireworks came in the form of stock market devastation.
Yet now, little more than a month later, many stocks are rising like the Games' fireworks over Rio de Janeiro.
Take a look at the top-performing growth stock mutual funds since the June 27 post-Brexit low.
The ranks of those Olympic class sprinters include $286.5 million Driehaus Micro Cap Growth (DMCRX), up 13.62% in that span. Others joining OTC on the medal stand and in the elite runners-up circle are $13.3 billion Fidelity OTC (FOCPX), up 13.55%; $6.8 billion Primecap Odyssey Aggressive Growth (POAGX), up 13.12%; $105.7 million Tocqueville Opportunity (TOPPX), up 12.80%; and $220 million Harbor Small Cap Growth Opportunity (HASOX), up 12.41%.
Click Here To See A List Of Top Holdings Of Top-Performing Growth Funds
The next five top performers, with gains ranging from 12.31% to 11.67% were $144.5 million Lord Abbot Micro Cap Growth (LMIYX), $161.7 million JPMorgan Dynamic Small Cap Growth (VSCOX), $6.6 billion Primecap Odyssey Growth (POGRX), $777.3 million Wells Fargo Emerging Growth (WFGDX) and $1.09 billion JPMorgan Small Cap Growth (PGSGX).
And what powered those gold-medal funds? Their top holdings included familiar names like Alphabet (GOOGL), Amazon (AMZN), Apple (AAPL) and Facebook (FB).
Those names gained 10% -- in Amazon's case -- to 17% by Alphabet in the month-plus since the Brexit low.
But a whole bunch of additional growth stocks that are also among the championship funds' top holdings did even better. Some are household names, some are less well-known.
Leading the pack was Acacia Communications (ACIA), which soared 85% since the June 27 low. Acacia accounted for 2.26% of the Driehaus fund's assets as of its latest disclosure. The S&P 500 was up a fraction as much, just 6.45% since Brexit. Acacia has a 99 Composite Rating from IBD and an A SMR (Sales + Profit Margins + ROE) Rating.
The Composite Rating, which starts at 1 and runs to 99, combines IBD's five performance ratings, including EPS and Relative Price Strength Ratings. Stocks poised to move higher often have a high Composite Rating. You should look for stocks whose rating is 95 or higher, which means that they've outperformed 95% of all other stocks in terms of their Composite Rating.
SMR Ratings of A and B are the best.
Acacia is a cloud-infrastructure tech firm. It is the top-ranked stock within IBD's Telecom-Fiber Optics industry group. The group is ranked No. 9 now, up from No. 36 four weeks ago.
The stock's share price has more than doubled since the stock went public in mid-May, leaving its share price extended. Its four most recent quarterly reports have shown earnings per share skyrocketing at triple-digit paces.
Medivation's (MDVN) rebound since Brexit has been more modest. It was up 12%. That's still more than twice as good as the broad market itself.
And it leaves the maker of cancer drugs still within a buying range. Trading around 63 on Friday morning, it was less than 2% past its 63.04 flat-base entry.
It has a 99 Comp Rating and an A SMR Rating. EPS growth is slowing down, having grown 867%, 250%, 164% and 38% the past four quarters.
IBD'S TAKE: Medivation is a takeover target. IBD's Ken Shreve reports that Sanofi is a suitor. Medivation's blockbuster drug is prostate-cancer treatment Xtandi.
Mobileye (MBLY) is up 16% since Brexit. The company is a leader in driver assistance systems such as automatic braking.
It has a 96 Comp Rating and an A SMR Rating.
Trading around 46, shares are within 4% of a 49.10 alternate handle entry.
Shares gapped down on July 26 when the company said that it would continue its relationship with Tesla (TSLA), but would not supply additional technology or components. Investors have been assessing whether Tesla or any other firm can produce driverless technology that would threaten Mobileye's.
IBD'S TAKE: Paul Gordon, lead manager of $2.1 billion MFS Mid Cap Growth Fund, told IBD this week that he is not worried about Tesla.
"Tesla is one of many Mobileye customers," said Paul Gordon, lead manager of $2.1 billion MFS Mid Cap Growth Fund (OTCIX). "They are not a significant percentage of sales currently." Mobileye's July 26 pullback was due to investors' fears that Tesla had found another supplier to provide autonomous driving chips at a lower price. Gordon doubts that's the case. "And it's more difficult to imagine that a Ford (F), GM (GM) or even BMW (BMWYY) can do what Mobileye can."
Other Big Rebounders
Paycom Software (PAYC) was another big gainer post-Brexit, up 29% since then.
Paycom provides cloud-based human capital management software. It was a top holding of the Tocqueville fund. The stock has a 99 Comp Rating and an A SMR Rating.
Trading around 51, shares are extended from their 42.70 entry. Paycom has a 99 Comp Rating and an A SMR Rating.
One big winner since Brexit is Biogen (BIIB). It's a top holding of the 12th top-performing fund, Vanguard Capital Opportunity (VHCOX), which notched an 11.63% gain. It also is held by Primecap Odyssey Aggressive Growth.
Biogen is up 41% since the Brit-brewed market meltdown. That leaves it slightly extended beyond its recent 291.02 buy point in a cup-with-a-handle base.
With a 5.36% weighting, Biogen was the top holding of the sixth-best performing growth-stock mutual fund, $13.5 billion Vanguard Capital Opportunity (VHCOX), which notched an 11.13% gain.
Biogen has a 97 Comp Rating and an A SMR Rating.
EPS grew 10%, 25% and 23% the three quarters. It is the No. 3 stock in the Medical-Biomed/Biotech industry group. The group is ranked 34th now, up from 112 four weeks back.
Mergers and acquisitions are roiling the pharmaceuticals and biotech waters. Early this week the Wall Street Journal said Merck (MRK) and Allergan (AGN) might be checking out Biogen. But Fox Business said Allergan could not afford to make a run at Biogen, and Biogen and Merck's product lines are so different that such a hookup offers no synergies to Merck.
