Analysis of the JPMorgan Funds – Global Focus Fund

The strategy is flexible and unrestricted, with respect to its benchmark MSCI World Index.

13 AUG, 2024

By Andrea Sepúlveda from LatamSelf

JPMorgan Funds - Global Focus is a global equity fund domiciled in Luxembourg launched in May 2003, making it a fund with over 20 years of history. The fund is classified as Article 8 under the European SFDR Regulation. In addition, thanks to its good results, it has received distinctions and ratings awarded by important financial information platforms globally.

Below, we see its characteristics and the opportunities it offers to investors.

Characteristics of the JPMorgan Funds - Global Focus fund

Investment strategy: the main objective of JPMorgan Funds - Global Focus is to generate superior returns in various market environments, seeking the best global stock ideas in companies with a large (mostly), medium and small market capitalization. The strategy is flexible and unrestricted, with respect to its benchmark MSCI World Index. This means that it is not limited by geographical regions or specific sectors, being able to seek opportunities worldwide but with a high conviction focus, to find only the best investment ideas with minimal restrictions.

Benchmark index: its benchmark is the MSCI World Index.

Investment team: it uses a fundamental and bottom-up stock selection process, which is based on the analysis of securities by a global analysis team of the manager. The fund's investment team is composed of Helge Skibeli, who has 34 years at JP Morgan and 5 years as fund manager; Timothy Woodhouse, 16 years at the manager and 7 years as fund manager; and James Cook, 16 years at the company. The three professionals have a specialized team of analysts who contribute with their experience and the global vision that being part of a manager like JP Morgan AM allows them.

Manager: J.P. Morgan Asset Management is the asset management unit of J.P. Morgan Chase internationally. It has been managing assets of investors and institutions around the world for over a century. Its presence extends to 20 countries in America, Europe, and Asia. Its professionals are strategically distributed in different regions, allowing them to be close to the markets and companies in which they invest. The firm has over 2.4 Tn USD in assets under management (AUM), more than 1,100 employees, and offers over 600 investment strategies across the spectrum of its platform.

ESG Focus: at least 51% of the assets are invested in companies that comply with environmental, social, and governance (ESG) criteria. This is based on the manager's internal ESG scoring methodology and/or third-party data.

Assets: the JPMorgan Funds - Global Focus strategy has nearly 6.6 Bn EUR in assets under management, as of July 31, 2024.

Evolution of the JPMorgan Funds - Global Focus fund

Source: Factsheet of the JPMorgan Funds - Global Focus Fund I EUR as of 30/06/2024.

One of the benefits of reviewing a fund with such a history is that it can be compared to its benchmark (MSCI World Index) over longer periods of time, to analyze consistency in strategy and long-term results.

Upon reviewing the table above, it is seen that the JPMorgan Funds - Global Focus has been able to beat its benchmark at 3, 5, and 10 years. Therefore, the team has made a good selection of its global companies and has maintained its conviction over time, showing consistency in its vision and results.

Again, taking advantage of the fund's launch date, long-term risk metrics can be reviewed. In addition, the same factsheet of the fund offers these metrics at 3 and 5 years.

This can reinforce what was already seen in the performance results. Good alpha results at 3 and 5 years, so the investment team has been able to achieve better results with a similar or even lower level of risk than the market.

The positioning of the JPMorgan Funds - Global Focus shows the investment freedom with respect to the benchmark and the conviction of the investment team when selecting stocks. This is due to the global support they have from JP Morgan AM, which allows them to have a great capacity for global analysis. On the other hand, we must not overlook that they apply sustainability criteria and the fund is classified as article 8 according to the European SFDR Regulation, which is not minor.