JPMorgan Short Duration Bond R6 JSDUX

The portfolio maintains a 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 investment approach stands out and earns an Above Average Process Pillar rating. Independent of the rating, analysis of the strategy's portfolio shows it has maintained an underweight position in corporate bonds and debt with over 30-year maturities compared with category peers. 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 Short Duration Bond Fund earns an Above Average Process Pillar rating.

The most important driver of the rating is the parent firm's five-year risk-adjusted success ratio of 59%. The measure indicates the percentage of a firm's funds that survived and beat their respective category's median Morningstar Risk-Adjusted Return for the period. Excellent risk-adjusted performance also influences the rating. This can be seen in the fund's five-year alpha calculated relative to the category index, which suggests that the managers have shown skill in their allocation of risk. 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.

Compared with other funds in the Short-Term Bond Morningstar Category, this fund consistently is sensitive to interest-rate changes. Opening the analysis to additional factors, the portfolio has displayed three biases over time, whether towards or away from certain fixed-income instruments. Compared with the average strategy in the category, the managers have been underweight corporate bonds. Additionally, there's been a bias away from debt with longer than 30-year maturities. And finally, the fund leans meaningfully away from BBB rated bonds.

This strategy has a modest 2.6% 12-month yield, lower than its average peers' 3.2%. In addition, it has a 4.0% 30-day SEC yield (a measure similar to yield-to-maturity). Typically, a lower yield comes with the benefit of less credit risk. But that isn't always the case. Over the past 12 months, the average yield of the fund has been lower than the average yield of its Morningstar Category peers. The portfolio's average surveyed credit quality is on par with peers, with both the fund and the average being rated A.

The main contributor to the rating is its parent firm's five-year success ratio of 58%. The measure indicates the percentage of a firm's funds that survived and outperformed their respective category's median return for the period. The stability of talent across its parent firm also influences the rating. The firm's asset-weighted manager tenure of 16 years demonstrates its ability to retain portfolio managers. Lastly, the rating is limited by the combined average five-year excess return of each manager, which suggests that the funds they manage have trailed their respective category average.

The strategy is backed by Toby Maczka, the longest-tenured manager, who has been a portfolio manager for six years. The strategies they currently manage have an average Morningstar Rating of 2.9 stars, demonstrating average risk-adjusted performance compared with category peers. Toby Maczka has an experienced listed co-manager. Together, they average 20 years of portfolio management experience. 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.

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.

Over a 10-year period, this share class' 1.4% gain mirrored the category's average return. And it was ahead of the category index, the Bloomberg Barclays U.S. Aggregate Government/ Credit 1-3 Year Index, by 30 basis points over the same period.

Finally, the share class proved itself effective by generating positive alpha, over the same 10-year period, against the category group index: a benchmark that encapsulates the performance of the broader asset class.

This share class sits in the cheapest quintile of its Morningstar Category. Its affordable expense ratio, in conjunction with the fund’s People, Process, and Parent Pillars, indicates that this share class has the ability to deliver positive alpha compared with its category benchmark, leading to its Morningstar Medalist Rating of Silver.