JPMorgan US Smaller Companies

JUSC: diversification and valuation opportunity in US smaller companies…

JPMorgan US Smaller Companies

JUSC offers all-weather exposure to a dynamic market…

JPMorgan US Smaller Companies

JPMorgan US Smaller Companies (JUSC) follows an investment philosophy that aims to identify high-quality investment opportunities within the US small-cap market. The trust is managed by the highly experienced team of Don San Jose, Dan Percella and Jonathan Brachle. The importance of quality is ingrained in the team’s investment process, be that through the quality of management and the business model.

It’s the end of the world as we know it

We examine five potential themes for investors seeking long-term returns in a troubled and uncertain world

Bargain hunt

We survey the discount opportunities in the market and update on the performance of our Discounted Opportunities Portfolio

How Do You Like Them Apples

Very few investors need to be reminded that the US market has hugely outperformed the rest of the world in the historic bull market following the Great Financial Crisis. Unfortunately, the discretionary fund managers that manage the portfolios of British retail investors need reminding even less, having been as a group systematically underweight in the US in their equity allocations. In the below chart, we have plotted the average US weighting in the equity portion of UK multi-asset funds in the

JPMorgan US Smaller Companies - Overview

JPMorgan US Smaller Companies (JUSC) offers investors a portfolio of small-cap US equities, with a process that places great weight on the quality of a company and the strength of its management team. JUSC benefits from the expertise of its strong team of four dedicated investment professionals, with its lead manager, Don San Jose, having 24 years of experience. The team’s focus on quality means that they will typically forgo zero-earning stocks, binary growth stocks or so-called ‘meme’ stocks.

Bargains galore

We last updated our discounted opportunities portfolio in July. Since then markets have been grinding higher but discounts have not moved – and perhaps slightly widened. We think readers will largely agree that it is hard to have conviction about the direction of markets and leadership at the moment, which may explain the static picture regarding discounts. At a directional level, the easy gains in the recovery have been made, and government support schemes have still to be wound down, creating

JPMorgan US Smaller Companies - Overview

JPMorgan US Smaller Companies Investment Trust (JUSC) offers investors a portfolio of US small-cap equities chosen via a bottom-up, quality-centric investment process. JUSC is run by a dedicated four-strong team, led by the experienced Don San Jose. The team look for what they consider to be the highest-quality companies, with quality being determined by a company’s business model and management quality above all other factors. While turnover is generally low, the team have taken advantage of th

JPMorgan US Smaller Companies - Overview

JPMorgan US Smaller Companies Investment Trust (JUSC) aims to provide investors with capital growth through a portfolio of US smaller companies. Don San Jose is the lead manager of the trust, supported by co-managers Dan Percella and Jon Brachle. Together they employ an active stock picking approach, looking for high-quality businesses that can perform strongly regardless of market conditions. Despite the focus on quality the managers will not overpay for growth, and a great deal of emphasis is

JPMorgan US Smaller Companies - Overview

JPMorgan US Smaller Companies Investment Trust (JUSC) aims to provide investors with capital growth through a portfolio of US smaller companies. JUSC is actively managed, with Don San Jose as the lead manager, supported by portfolio managers Dan Percella and Jon Brachle. The team take a purely bottom-up approach to investing, searching for high-quality businesses with strong management teams. They will not, however, overlook the price they are paying, and a great deal of emphasis is placed on f

Quality street: can the dominant style continue to outperform?

Quality as an investing style has outperformed significantly in recent years, and over the past 12 months especially so. After this kind of outperformance, it is natural to ask whether a trend is over-done and profits should be taken – and that is what we have done. When analysing the typical quality benchmarks, it quickly becomes apparent that these indices have significant industry and sector exposures, which could affect how they perform in the future and put them at risk of a down period. Bu

USA! USA. USA?

2018 saw the first negative calendar year for the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones since 2008 and, despite a subsequent rally, sentiment remains divided between those who believe the US market has more room to run, and those who think the longest bull market in history will soon come screeching to a halt. Instinctively, it feels like a correction must be due and, indeed, a recent survey of Kepler Trust Intelligence readers showed the majority feel that there are choppy waters ahead. Among those who fel

JPMorgan US Smaller Companies Investment Trust - Overview

JPMorgan US Smaller Companies Investment Trust (JUSC) aims to provide investors with capital growth through a portfolio of US smaller companies. Don San Jose is the lead manager of the trust, supported by portfolio managers Dan Percella and John Brachle. Together, the team use bottom-up investment analysis to identify high quality companies that demonstrate balance sheet strength and solid cashflows. Through constantly assessing the underlying company’s ‘pathway’ for earnings into the future, a

Morning Note – 22 April 2024

Benefits of scale set to materialise

Frenkel Topping - Resilient with strong growth potential

FY 2023 was a challenging year for Frenkel with higher interest rates encouraging clients to place money into lower margin money market funds. Despite this, sales grew +32% (supported by recurring revenue +9% and +51% in non-recurring), EBIT margins remained strong at 22% and adj. EPS grew +17% (taking into account the higher number of shares). FY 2024 has seen a solid start to transactional business and there is a strong pipeline of new FUM opportunities both of which support further growth. Wi

Bluefield Solar Income Fund – Fundamentals shine despite discount

The manger comments that, in common with the other trusts in the renewable energy sector, the last six months have continued what has been a challenging period for the Bluefield Solar Income Fund (BSIF). It adds that the trust’s ongoing fundamental performance has failed to reverse a steady slide in its share price which began back in May 2023. Despite this, it says the company has continued to deliver solid NAV growth and market-leading shareholder distributions thanks to a range of contractual

LSL Property Services (LSL LN) - Transformation & market recovery

2023 results are, as indicated in its February pre-close update, “slightly ahead of market expectations”. Current trading continues to improve, with 1Q24 underlying operating profit up yoy, “reflecting the benefits of the Group’s transformation programme completed in 2023 as well as improving market conditions.” With net cash of £35m at end 2023, the Board approved 7.4p final DPS and £7m buy back.

Henderson Far East Income - Repositioning to raise total returns

Henderson Far East Income (HFEL) has consistently delivered on its objective to provide a rising dividend. However, like many investors, HFEL’s managers overestimated the potential for a post-pandemic rebound in China. The trust’s resultant overweight to Chinese consumer and other cyclicals led to a fall in portfolio revenues and underperformance in the financial year ended 31 August 2023 (FY23). With a view to improving future returns, HFEL’s board has since indicated an increased willingness t

S&U - PBT ahead, encouraging volume trends

S&U reported FY24 PBT of £33.6m, down from £41.4m in FY23 on higher funding and regulatory costs and higher impairments in Advantage in H2. PBT was 2% ahead of our forecast as stronger revenues – up 12% to £115.4m – and better costs offset higher-than-expected impairments. Net receivables grew to a record at both Advantage and Aspen and management noted particular strength in Q4 and a good trading environment in the current year. Having absorbed a significant rise in funding cost as well as addi

Hardman & Co Insight: 2023 was an annus horribilis for Quoted UK Infrastructure and Renewable Energy

The focus of Hardman & Co Research is on the nine quoted Infrastructure Investment Companies (IICs) and on the 22 Renewable Energy Infrastructure Funds (REIFs): the stocks analysed are all members of the Association of Investment Companies (AIC). We are updating our publication of January 2023, assessing both the lacklustre share price performances during 2023 and the key issues, including interest rates, inflation and power prices. As a 31-strong group, its combined market capitalisation is no

Foresight Solar Fund - Termination of coverage

Edison Investment Research is terminating coverage on ABC Arbitrage (ABCA), paragon (PGN), Foresight Solar Fund (FSFL), Kendrion (KENDR), Lithium Power International (LPI), Triple Point Energy Transition (TENT), 4iG (4IG), e-therapeutics (ETX), Pharnext (ALPHA) and Shield Therapeutics (STX). Please note you should no longer rely on any previous research or estimates for this company. All forecasts should now be considered redundant. Previously published reports can still be accessed via our web

LIBERUM: PensionBee: Strong start to the new financial year

International Public Partnerships - Consistently and responsibly delivering

International Public Partnerships’ (INPP’s) FY23 results show that it continues to deliver consistent and predictable returns for investors, while delivering environmental and social benefits for the individuals and communities that are served by its assets. Despite this strong performance and a substantial need for private infrastructure funding, the macroeconomic environment has weighed on INPP’s share price, in common with the wider sector. Regardless, attractive returns are available from th

LIBERUM: NewRiver: Q4 trading update: Continued operational momentum

Regional REIT - Performing as expected ahead of refinancing

In a challenging market, Regional REIT’s (RGL’s) FY23 operational and financial performance was robust, in line with expectations and previous guidance. Investor focus remains on the company’s loan to value (LTV) reduction and bond refinancing plans, explored in detail in our previous note and RGL will provide an update on this in due course.

Witan

Business as usual for WTAN’s executive team, while the board reviews investment management arrangements…

LIBERUM: PayPoint: On track for £100m of EBITDA in FY 26