JPMorgan Small Cap Growth L JISGX

The portfolio maintains a sizable cost advantage over competitors, priced within the least expensive fee quintile among peers.

The strategy's managers invest alongside shareholders, which helps it earn an Above Average People Pillar rating. The strategy's sensible investment philosophy earns an Above Average Process Pillar rating. High liquidity exposure is attributed to stocks with a high trading volume, lending managers more flexibility. And a low quality exposure is rooted in stocks with higher financial leverage and lower profitability. The strategy's parent organization earns the firm an Above Average Parent Pillar rating, and this rating is inherited from vehicles belonging to the same branding entity and is indirectly assigned by an analyst.

JPMorgan Small Cap Growth Fund earns an Above Average Process Pillar rating.

The most notable contributor to the rating is its parent firm's superior long-term risk-adjusted performance, as shown by the firm's average 10-year Morningstar Rating of 3.3 stars. The parent firm's five-year risk-adjusted success ratio of 55% also supports the process. 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. Their commendable success ratio suggests that the firm does well for investors and that this fund may benefit from that. Lastly, the process is limited by the number of months that the management team has been running this vehicle together.

This strategy does not differentiate itself from its Small Growth category peers in terms of size and style exposure. Analyzing additional factors, this fund has constantly tilted toward stocks with higher trading volumes than its Morningstar Category Peers over the past few years. Such stocks may have less potential upside than illiquid holdings, but they are easier to trade during market downturns. In recent months, the strategy was more exposed to the Liquidity factor compared with its Morningstar Category peers as well. The strategy has also had a defensive tilt, demonstrated by lower exposure to the quality factor than peers in recent years. This means the fund has avoided holding companies that are consistently profitable, growing, and have solid balance sheets. Lacking this ballast, the fund's prospects could rest on its ability to beat peers during economic booms. Similarly, in recent months, the strategy also had less exposure to the Quality factor than peers. Additionally, the managers have consistently taken on more risk, demonstrated by higher volatility exposure than peers. Such stocks tend to rise faster and fall harder than the broad market. High-volatility exposure contributes to stronger performance during bull markets, but often at the cost of losing more during downturns. In this month, the strategy also had more exposure to the Volatility factor over its peers. More information on a fund and its respective category's factor exposure can be found in the Factor Profile module within the Portfolio section.

The portfolio is overweight in technology by 5.4 percentage points in terms of assets compared with the category average, and its consumer cyclical allocation is similar to the category. The sectors with low exposure compared to category peers are financial services and communication services, with financial services underweighting the average portfolio by 4.9 percentage points of assets and communication services similar to the average. The strategy owns 136 securities and its assets are more dispersed than the typical peer in the category. In the most recent disclosure, 17.6% of the portfolio's assets were concentrated in the top 10 fund holdings, as opposed to the category average's 26.1%. And finally, in terms of portfolio turnover, this portfolio turns over its holdings less quickly than peers, potentially leading to lower costs for investors and eliminating a drag on performance.

Eytan M. Shapiro, the longest-tenured manager on the strategy, boasts over 25 years of listed portfolio management experience. Eytan M. Shapiro is supported by an experienced team, being able to draw on three additional listed managers, who average 19 years of listed portfolio management experience. As a team, they manage two investment vehicles together, with solid long-term prospects. The strategies average a Silver asset-weighted algorithmically-assigned average Morningstar Medalist Rating, indicating a position to deliver positive alpha in aggregate. With at least one manager investing$ 1 million or more in this offering, investors can have some assurance that the team's interests are aligned with theirs.

Note: The People Pillar rating is indirectly assigned by an analyst. At least one of the managers on this fund manages a different product rated by an analyst. The analyst-assigned People Pillar rating(s) for these managers are combined with algorithmic scores for any non-covered managers on a tenure-weighted basis.

As of 2022, this investment stalwart manages more than USD 2.5 trillion in AUM. Composed of various global cohorts and diverse asset classes, the firm has more tightly integrated its capabilities in recent years, notably through the development of proprietary analytical and risk systems. Investment teams are robustly staffed and helmed by seasoned contributors. The firm’s strategies tend to produce reliable portfolios, and several flagship offerings are Morningstar Medalists. Manager incentives align with fundholders'; compensation reflects longer-term performance factors, and portfolio managers invest in the firm’s strategies as part of their compensation plans.

The firm’s funds tend to be well-priced, but they aren’t as competitive as many highly regarded peers of similar scale. Recent product launches include thematic and single-country strategies, both of which carry the potential for volatile performance and flows, along with misuse by investors. The firm remains intrepid when it comes to developing an environmental, social, and governance-focused framework and continues to move into other areas such as direct indexing through its 55iP acquisition and China through its joint venture, but these complicated initiatives take time to assess any real and lasting effect.

It has been challenged over the short term but strong over the long term. Over the past five years, the fund fell short of the category index, the Russell 2000 Growth Index, by 33 basis points, and lagged its average peer by 98 basis points. More importantly, on a 10-year basis, this share class outpaced the index by an annualized 2.4 percentage points.

The share class had a higher Sharpe ratio, a measure of risk-adjusted return, than the index over the trailing 10-year period. However, these returns were accompanied by additional risk, with a standard deviation of 22.4% compared to the benchmark's 20.9%.

Thus, assessing cost is a critical step in any investment evaluation. This share class is within the cheapest quintile of its Morningstar Category. Its attractive fee, paired with the fund’s People, Process, and Parent Pillars, indicates that this share class has the ability to deliver positive alpha relative to its category benchmark, leading to its Morningstar Medalist Rating of Silver.