JPMorgan Tax Aware Equity C JPECX

Fees are a weakness here. The strategy's lofty fees are a high hurdle to clear, as it is priced within the most expensive quintile among peers.

The strategy's effective investment philosophy supports an Above Average Process Pillar rating. Independent of the rating, analysis of the strategy's portfolio shows it has maintained an underweight position in quality exposure and volatility exposure compared with category peers. Low quality exposure is attributed to stocks with higher financial leverage and lower profitability. And low volatility exposure is rooted in stocks that have a lower standard deviation of returns. The strategy’s management team earns an Above Average People Pillar rating. The strategy's parent organization earns the firm an Above Average Parent Pillar rating. People Pillar and Parent Pillar ratings for this strategy are indirectly assigned by a Morningstar analyst rather than algorithmically derived. Please see the notes following each pillar section for more details. The details of assigning methods can be found in each pillar section.

JPMorgan Tax Aware Equity Fund earns an Above Average Process Pillar rating.

The most significant contributor to the rating is the firm's five-year retention rate of 83% over the period. The stability of the management team also bolsters the rating. Specifically, the fund has not seen a manager change in the last 15 years. Lastly, the process is limited by being an actively managed strategy. Historical data, such as Morningstar's Active/Passive Barometer, finds that actively managed funds have generally underperformed their passive counterparts, especially over longer time horizons.

This strategy prefers more value-oriented stocks compared with the average fund in its peer group, the Large Growth Morningstar Category. But in terms of size exposure, it is similar to the average. Examining additional factor exposure, this strategy tilts consistently toward stocks with lower quality or the shares of companies with more financial leverage and lower profitability, compared with Morningstar Category peers over the past few years. Lacking this ballast, the fund's prospects will rest on its ability to surpass peers during economic booms. In the latest month, the strategy was also less exposed to the Quality factor compared with Morningstar Category peers. This strategy has also tilted toward low-volatility stocks in recent years, meaning those that have a lower standard deviation of returns. These low-risk stocks are typically at their best when markets are not. Low volatility exposure contributes to limited loss on the downside at the cost of a lag in bull markets. Similarly, in recent months, the strategy also had less exposure to the Volatility factor than peers. Additionally, this strategy's portfolio has held more stocks with high dividend or buyback yields than peers over recent years. High-yield stocks tend to be connected to more mature companies earning enough cash to return some to shareholders. At times, however, extreme market pressure can force them to cut their dividends, which hurts stock performance. In this month, the strategy also had more exposure to the Yield 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 energy and financial services relative to the category average by 4.2 and 4.2 percentage points, respectively. The sectors with low exposure compared to category peers are technology and consumer cyclical, underweight the average by 8.9 and 5.0 percentage points of assets, respectively. The portfolio is positioned across 44 holdings and is diversified among those holdings. In its most recent portfolio, 47.3% of the strategy's assets were concentrated in the top 10 fund holdings, compared to the category average's 52.5%. 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.

Susan Bao, the longest-tenured manager on the strategy, provides strong guidance, bringing forward 23 years of portfolio management experience. The average Morningstar Rating of the strategies they manage is 3.7 stars, demonstrating above-average risk-adjusted performance compared to category peers. Susan Bao has an experienced listed co-manager. Together, they average 13 years of portfolio management experience. The management team has provided the fund with commendable continuity. There have been no documented departures within the past 10 years.

Note: The People Pillar rating is indirectly assigned by an analyst. The longest-tenured manager of the fund also manages a different product rated by an analyst. Their analyst-assigned People Pillar rating is combined here with the People scores (algorithmic or analyst-assigned) for the fund’s other 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 provided superior returns compared with peers, but subpar returns compared with the category benchmark. Over a 10-year period, this share class outpaced the category's average return by 1.2 percentage points annualized. However, it was more difficult to outpace the category index, Russell 1000 Growth Index, where it trailed by an annualized 3.5 percentage points over the same period.

When adjusting for risk, this fund is not compelling. The share class failed to beat the index with a lower Sharpe ratio, a measure of risk-adjusted returns, over the trailing 10-year period. But notably, these subpar risk-adjusted results have not come with more volatility than the benchmark, as measured by standard deviation. Finally, the share class proved itself ineffective as it was unable to generate alpha, over the same 10-year period, against the category group index: a benchmark that encapsulates the performance of the broader asset class.

Thus, assessing cost is a critical step in any investment evaluation. This share class levies a fee that places it in its Morningstar Category's highest quintile. Despite this fee, the fund’s People, Process, and Parent Pillars suggest this share class has the potential to deliver positive alpha relative to its category benchmark, garnering a Morningstar Medalist Rating of Bronze.