JPMorgan American

JAM’s outperformance puts it in the spotlight as a low-cost, core option for US equities…

JPMorgan American

JAM’s continued outperformance puts it in the spotlight as a low-cost, core option for US equities...

Staying active

Today, passively managed funds are the dominant owners of US equities, having surpassed actively managed strategies. There are clear attractions to passive investing, such as low cost, diversification, easy access and availability. Additionally, the investment approach is clearly defined. Passive investing is inherently a ‘core’ style of investing because, by using an index-tracking fund, investors gain near perfect exposure to the benchmark by which all other styles are measured. Index-trackin

JPMorgan American

JAM’s blended approach to US equities has allowed it to outperform in a very difficult market

You say tomato...

Do it yourself or put it into a global fund and leave it to the experts - our analyst debate the merits of each approach

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 American - Overview

JPMorgan American (JAM) provides its investors with a balanced approach to US equity investing, with the sole objective of capital growth. JAM has a unique portfolio, with a blend of two distinct investment styles, whereby co-manager Timothy Parton manages JAM’s growth allocation, and co-manager Jonathan Simon its value portfolio. While both managers have their own criteria for selecting stocks, they both place great weight on the ‘quality’ factor during their analysis. JAM also has a small, ded

FAANGs for the memories

Large-cap technology stocks have dominated global markets in recent years, especially in the US where the FAANGs (Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix and Alphabet) have reigned supreme. Combined, the FAANGs and Microsoft currently make up 12% of global equity markets while also having been amongst the best-performing companies globally. Yet we think the future doesn’t look as bright for these giants, with a series of antitrust suits on the horizon and declining tailwinds from COVID-19 lockdowns. Th

JPMorgan American - Overview

JPMorgan American (JAM) offers investors a core exposure to US equities. In June 2019 it adopted a new approach, blending two dedicated valueand growth-based allocations. This is achieved through two experienced investment managers, Jonathan Simon (value) and Timothy Parton (growth), with each manager given up to 20 positions and up to 60% of the trust’s assets at any one time. The two come together to create a wholly bottom-up portfolio which balances both styles, never taking a substantial ove

JPMorgan American - Overview

With net assets worth north of £1bn at the time of writing, JPMorgan American Investment Trust (JAM) has long been the bellwether investment trust for exposure to North America, offering a core exposure to mainly large-cap stocks. JAM continues to offer this, but since 1 June 2019 has been using a new approach, with the portfolio being managed by two experienced individuals with very different styles – one growth (Timothy Parton) and one value (Jonathan Simon). Each manager contributes a highly

Sea change

The COVID-19 related shutdown has seen the largest US companies extend their share price performance leadership even further, and they are generally assumed to be the winners from any changes to the economy. In part, this outperformance reflects increased certainty that these companies are the beneficiaries from a change in working practices and structural shifts in the economy, but this outperformance has been a longer-running trend. Investors with US equity exposure might be tempted to tilt in

On solid ground

To those who regularly invest in investment trusts, discounts can often be part of the opportunity. But to others, discounts are an extra complication, not to mention an extra risk. The last six weeks has probably strengthened the prejudices of both sides on the topic. The recent bout of volatility has – in our opinion – more clearly exposed both the advantages and the disadvantages of investment trusts. Our perspective is that discounts are like a drunk friend. They are fun to have around, but

Choose your own adventure

Napoleon insisted he would rather have his generals be lucky than good. Increasingly, especially when investing in the US stock market, many investors opt for a passive fund, presumably viewing markets through the same prism that managers are really only ever lucky, as opposed to good. Yet many still choose active funds for a variety of reasons: a preferred investment style (or factor bias), or an alignment between the investor and the manager on the macroeconomic outlook are chief among them.

The best form of defence

Last year we published a number of studies showing that investment trust managers were counteracting the rise of passive vehicles by further concentrating their portfolios and using the advantages of the closed-end structure such as gearing and the ability to pay income from capital more aggressively. New analysis from the team at Kepler shows that that over the past five years, trusts which have seen the greatest reduction in number of stocks in portfolios have generated the highest levels of

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

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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

Witan

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

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.

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