Back when Peter Lynch managed the Magellan Fund, it was a Wall Street powerhouse, an icon symbolizing institutional might. This was when mutual funds were spoken about in the same way hedge funds are today, which is to say people wondered if they were too influential in the markets. Perhaps more than any other fund, Magellan pulled more retail customers into the market.

The issue today, of course, is whether Magellan can ever regain that sort of stature. The answer is no, but that doesn't mean it cannot put up some better performance stats.

"Six months from now, I'll look like I'm a star," manager Harry Lange tells SmartMoney in an interesting profile of the fund. He may be right. In fact, we hope he's right. But it may be a difficult boast to live up to.

Since he took over in October 2005 through March of this year, Magellan gained 2.6 percent annually, trailing the S&P 500 by 1.5 percentage points a year.

"It finished in the large-cap growth category's bottom quartile in 2010, according to Morningstar. And it landed in the bottom half of the category again in the first quarter of this year, gaining 5.4 percent versus 5.9 percent for the S&P 500," reports SmartMoney.

In some ways, the sad story of Magellan is the sad story of all actively managed funds. The financial crisis seems to have marked a turning point. The heyday is over. Long live ETFs?

For more:
- here's the article

Related Articles:
Vanguard triumphs, while Fidelity struggles
Magellan reopens after a decade
How to fix the Magellan fund
Harry Lange tries to right Magellan