JPMorgan California Tax Free Bond Fund earns an Above Average Process Pillar rating.
The leading factor in the rating is the parent firm's five-year risk-adjusted success ratio of 56%. The measure indicates the percentage of a firm's funds that survived and outperformed their respective category's median Morningstar Risk-Adjusted Return for the period. The parent firm's excellent risk-adjusted performance, as shown by its average 10-year Morningstar Rating of 3.3 stars, also bolsters the rating. Lastly, the process is limited by the number of months that the management team has been running this vehicle together.
Compared with other funds in the Muni California Intermediate Morningstar Category, this fund takes on lower credit risk. But in terms of long-term interest-rate sensitivity, it hews closely to its average peer over the past few years. Opening the analysis to additional factors, the portfolio has displayed biases over time, whether towards or away from certain fixed-income instruments. Relative to the category average, the managers have been underweight A rated bonds in recent years. In the latest month, the strategy has also relatively underweighted A rated bonds compared with Morningstar Category peers. Additionally, there's been a notable bias towards debt with 10- to 15-year maturities over the past few years. Compared with category peers, the strategy had more exposure to debt with 10- to 15-year maturities in the most recent month. Finally, during the past few years, the fund leaned away from corporate bonds. Nevertheless, the fund's corporate bonds exposure was in line with peers in the latest month.
This strategy's 12-month yield is 2.5%, which mirrors its average peer. Plus, it has a 2.6% 30-day SEC yield (a standardized, point-in-time estimate of the fund’s future income return). The portfolio has a higher average surveyed credit quality of A, compared with the typical peers' BBB, and 1% of the strategy's assets are rated non-investment-grade compared with its average peers' 0%. Strategies with less credit risk may help to provide a reliable ballast during periods of market stress.