The past year has been a wild ride for many mutual funds who lost big in 2008 only to see a turnaround in 2009, The Wall Street Journal's Eleanor Laise notes in the Wednesday edition of the Fund Track column.

In examining various funds that have recovered this year, Laise highlights several value-oriented funds, including Aegis Value, Legg Mason Capital Management Opportunity, and Vanguard Capital Value.

Aegis Value, which dropped 51 percent last year, has seen the largest recovery in 2009 as the fund has posted a 93 percent return this year through December 28, according to Morningstar data. In second place, is small-cap growth fund Birmiwal Oasis, which has gained 91 percent this year after losing 63 percent in 2008.

Legg Mason Capital Management Opportunity saw an 88 percent gain through December 28 this year, putting the fund in third place, after losing 65 percent in 2008.

For its part, Forester Value -- a fund that held the honor of being the sole U.S. diversified stock fund to post a gain in 2008 -- is still up 19 percent, but the figure pales in comparison to the gains of many other funds this year.

So what have these funds been doing to stage such a strong comeback? It's not significant strategy changes, Laise indicates, but in several cases, the willingness of fund managers such as those at Legg Mason and Aegis to shuttle a large portion of assets into a concentrated number of their top holdings.

"We didn't make any wholesale changes," stated Samantha McLemore, portfolio manager for Legg Mason's Opportunity fund.

Despite gains though, many investors freshly recall the pain of 2008 and have been hesitant to infuse more cash into these rebounders. Still, many fund managers view this hesitancy optimistically, determining that if the funds continue to recover, there will be ample opportunities in the market in 2010.  

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