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Barry Rosenstein’s Jana Partners shares a couple of traits with other leading performers in Barron’s Top 100 Hedge Funds. This year, many of them are equity specialists that focus on a short list of companies they get to know extremely well.

He’s No. 1. Larry Robbins’ Glenview Offshore Opportunity fund parlayed Obamacare beneficiaries into Barron’s top position. Photo: Roger Hagadone for Barron’s

As we predicted a year ago, funds focused on some of the previously leading areas, such as structured credit, simply couldn’t keep up their sprint. For instance, Zais Group, which was No. 1 in both 2011 and 2012, was driven by the strong recovery in mortgage- and asset-backed securities after the credit crisis. Zais fell to No. 15 this year because its 2013 returns dropped to 9.75%.

Overall, as the world has regained its footing after the Great Recession, returns have begun to revert to more normal levels, below the dramatic, postcrisis figures. Zais had three-year returns of more than 78% and 50%, respectively, in winning the last two contests. In comparison, this time around, Glenview’s three-year return was a much more modest 32.61%.

To qualify for our eighth edition of Barron’s top-ranked funds, a fund needed at least a 12.25% three-year annualized return, net of fees. The average return of this year’s leaders was 17.01%, nearly four times that of the typical hedge fund, as measured by the BarclayHedge Fund Index Average’s 4.37% rise. The Top 100’s gains also beat the Standard & Poor’s 500’s three-year average of 16.15%. However, even the Barron’s 100’s average of 22.97% for 2013 couldn’t keep pace with the S&P’s 32.38% return.

The Top 100 excludes funds that happen to be in a hot industry, region, or specialized asset class. We screen out those that invest in a single foreign country or sector, or specific commodities or currencies. To help ensure inclusion of professionally run shops that may offer more stability and liquidity, funds must have at least $300 million and three years of reported returns.

The data-crunching begins with screens prepared by three leading hedge-fund databases: BarclayHedge (barclayhedge.com ), Morningstar (morningstar.com ), and eVestment (evestment.com ). They sort through thousands of funds to meet our basic criteria. With the help of Barron’s Contributing Editor Erin E. Arvedlund, we draw from other trustworthy sources. We then contact the managers to verify results, affirming all data and that performance is net of expenses.

Based on a sampling of opinion from 40 leading wealth advisors, Penta recently suggested that hedge funds could be a good bet over the next few years because they can go short various markets and offer returns uncorrelated to major indexes. With the outlook for bonds and stocks so uncertain, investing in a diverse array of funds, including those on the next couple of pages, makes sense.

Besides equity and structured credit funds, other strategies well-represented on our list this year include commodity-trading/macro, fixed-income arbitrage, and distressed-credit. Through April, 2014’s top-performing strategies have been distressed (4.7%), event-driven (3.3%), and fixed-income arbitrage (3.1%). Long/short managers have struggled a bit so far, up just a half-percentage point.

Eric Siegel, global head of hedge-fund investments at Citi Private Bank, believes event-driven funds should be able to continue to exploit the rise in corporate deal-making, particularly by investing in specific parts of a company’s capital structure. He’s also keen on European distressed funds, as that region’s banks sell assets at attractive prices. And with corporate fundamentals starting to drive share-price performance, displacing the common lift that most shares had been receiving from the rising macro tide, Siegel sees opportunities for sharp long/short equity managers.

Just remember that all hedge funds aren’t created equal. Scores closed their doors last year. And the average hedge fund returned a paltry 11.12% — roughly a third of the stock market’s gain. Barron’s Top 100 Hedge Funds is our way of helping you get to know managers and strategies that have succeeded over time.