Fidelity Contrafund
Figures last verified October 31, 2026
Active large-growth stock picking; Will Danoff has run the fund since 1990, favoring 'best of breed' companies with improving earnings.
If active management has a strongest witness, it's Will Danoff: running Contrafund since 1990, compounding one of the largest funds on earth at a clip that beat the S&P 500 over his full tenure. That's not survivorship-bias trivia — it's one of the few multi-decade, single-manager records that survives scrutiny. The fee is adjusted with performance and lately sits around 0.74% — no longer the standout bargain for active management it was for years, and a real hurdle against an index fund at a fraction of the cost.
And yet the forward-looking case is harder than the backward-looking one. The fund's sheer size constrains it to mega caps, where its holdings increasingly resemble a growth index plus a fee; recent-decade results versus the Russell 1000 Growth have been mixed; and Danoff, who started in 1990, will not run it forever. Succession is the question every Contrafund owner is implicitly betting on.
A reasonable position: respect the record, hold it if you have it with low embedded cost basis, but recognize that FSPGX delivers the same neighborhood of exposure for a tenth of the fee with no key-person risk. New money has to believe something specific about the next manager to choose otherwise.
Believers in the rare manager with a genuine multi-decade record.
FCNTX alternatives & comparable funds
If you’re weighing FCNTX against the field, these are the funds most investors line it up against — same job, different provider, slightly different terms.
| Fund | Family | Expense Ratio | Minimum |
|---|---|---|---|
| FCNTX — Fidelity Contrafund | Fidelity | 0.74% | $0 |
| FSPGX — Fidelity Large Cap Growth Index Fund | Fidelity | 0.035% | $0 |
| VIGAX — Vanguard Growth Index Fund… | Vanguard | 0.05% | $3,000 |
| FBGRX — Fidelity Blue Chip Growth Fund | Fidelity | 0.72% | $0 |
| TRBCX — T. Rowe Price Blue Chip Growth Fund | T. Rowe Price | 0.70% | $2,500 |
Head-to-head comparisons
Frequently asked questions
What is the expense ratio of FCNTX?
FCNTX (Fidelity Contrafund) has an expense ratio of 0.74%, which works out to roughly $74 per year for every $10,000 invested. That is high relative to index alternatives, and it compounds against you every year, so the fund needs to outperform just to break even versus a cheaper option.
What is the minimum investment for FCNTX?
FCNTX has no minimum initial investment — you can start with any amount.
What does FCNTX invest in?
Active large-growth stock picking; Will Danoff has run the fund since 1990, favoring 'best of breed' companies with improving earnings. It falls in the large growth category and is an actively managed fund.
What are good alternatives to FCNTX?
The funds most often compared with FCNTX are FSPGX, VIGAX, FBGRX — broadly similar exposure from different providers, with small differences in fee, minimum, and portability that usually come down to which brokerage holds your account.
Expense ratio and minimum for FCNTX drawn from Fidelity fund documentation; last verified October 31, 2026. Figures change — confirm against the official prospectus before investing. This review is editorial opinion, not investment advice.