JPMorgan Large Cap Value C OLVCX

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 management team earns an Above Average People Pillar rating. The strategy's effective investment approach 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. 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 Large Cap Value Fund earns an Above Average Process Pillar rating.

The primary contributor to the rating is its parent firm's impressive long-term risk-adjusted performance, as shown by the firm's average 10-year Morningstar Rating of 3.3 stars. Respectable risk-adjusted performance also bolsters 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.

This strategy prefers smaller market-cap firms compared with the average fund in its peer group, the Large Value Morningstar Category. But in terms of investment style, it is on par with peers. Examining additional factor exposure, the fund has held stocks with higher trading volumes compared to Morningstar Category Peers in the past few years. More-liquid assets are easier to buy and sell without adversely moving their prices and tend to provide some ballast during market selloffs. They also are easier to sell to meet redemptions if a host of investors decide to leave the fund in a short period of time. In recent months, the strategy was more exposed to the Liquidity factor compared with its Morningstar Category peers as well. This strategy has also favored low-quality stocks. This means the fund avoids holding companies that are consistently profitable, growing, and have solid balance sheets. Such positions do not tend to provide much ballast for a portfolio. 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 industrials by 3.3 percentage points in terms of assets compared with the category average, and its energy allocation is similar to the category. The sectors with low exposure compared to category peers are communication services and healthcare, underweight the average by 3.5 and 3.4 percentage points of assets, respectively. The portfolio has 99 holdings and invests 27.0% of assets in its top 10 holdings, similar to the category average. And finally, in terms of portfolio turnover, this portfolio's holdings turn over more often than comparable products in its peer group, possibly resulting in higher costs for investors and a drag on performance.

The team is backed by Scott Blasdell, the longest-tenured manager on the strategy, who provides over 25 years of listed portfolio management experience. Despite having a small team, the two listed managers boast 13 years of listed portfolio management experience. As a team, they manage three investment vehicles together, with a Silver asset-weighted algorithmically-assigned average Morningstar Medalist Rating, demonstrating their potential to deliver positive alpha in aggregate. At least one member of the team has invested$ 1 million or more of their own capital in the fund, which helps align their interests with the strategy's investors. The management team has provided the fund with commendable continuity. There have been no documented departures within the past five 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.

This share class led its average peer by an annualized excess return of 1.3 percentage points over a 10-year period. And it was also ahead of the category index, the Russell 1000 Value Index, by 1.1 percentage points over the same period.

When adjusting for risk, the fund is not as favorable. The share class trailed the index with a lower Sharpe ratio, a measure of risk-adjusted returns, over the trailing 10-year period. In addition to its subpar risk-adjusted performance, the strategy also took on elevated risk, as measured by a higher standard deviation, 18.6%, than the benchmark, 15.5%. 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.

This share class levies a fee that places it in its Morningstar Category's most expensive quintile. Despite this fee, the fund’s People, Process, and Parent Pillars suggest this share class can deliver positive alpha relative to its category benchmark, resulting in a Morningstar Medalist Rating of Bronze.