JPM China I2 (acc) USD

Analyst Report
Morningstar's Take
|12/03/2024

by Claire Liang
Despite recent underperformance, we believe that JPM China is equipped to bounce back with a capable investment management team backed by deep analytical resources and a well-structured investment process. We reiterate the strategy’s Above Average People and Process ratings.

The strategy is in the good hands of Rebecca Jiang and Howard Wang. Wang is a Greater China equity veteran with 29 years of experience. He had successfully run the strategy since January 2016 before he relocated back to Taipei and became a nondiscretionary investment advisor here on May 1, 2023. That said, he continues to work closely with Jiang and remains deeply involved in every decision. Jiang brings 19 years of experience and has comanaged the strategy with Wang since September 2017. The duo has shown great synergy, and we think they are capable China equity investors. Li Tan was added as backup manager here following Wang’s relocation, though he is not directly involved in the strategy’s day-to-day management.

The supporting 16-member Greater China analyst team is very experienced, has been highly stable since 2018, and provides the duo a broad coverage of Greater China equities. The team saw a change of guard in Dec 2023, when David Gleeson took over as the new head of Greater China research. Gleeson is tasked with tightening analysts’ modeling and growth forecasts, an area where the analysts have shown some weakness over the past year or so, and we are keeping a close eye on the analysts’ research quality. The team continues to integrate with the onshore JPMorgan Asset Management China’s (the Chinese joint venture that JPM fully acquired in January 2023) 19-member analyst team, whose direct contribution here remains limited at this stage. However, Gleeson intends to have the onshore team take over coverage of the smaller China A-shares from the offshore analysts, and their future value-add is worth monitoring.

The duo adopts a secular-growth-focused investment approach with a consideration for quality. They have stayed true to their growth preference even during adverse times, with the portfolio exhibiting a long-standing bias toward technology, consumption, healthcare, and new energy-related names. The duo focuses on companies’ five-year expected return in considering stocks’ relative attractiveness, and they can tolerate rich valuations at times if they believe in a company’s ability to deliver earnings growth over time. This has worked well in growth-driven up markets, but it has backfired in the recent selloff of China equities, where some expensive stocks fell short of the team’s growth expectations amid the country’s weak consumer spending. The team is taking steps to correct analysts’ forecasting errors. The duo plans to pay more attention to the stocks’ relative valuation multiples and own some cheaper-valued growth stocks, such as Baidu and China Pacific Insurance to balance the portfolio. While we are monitoring the managers’ valuation discipline, we are confident the duo remains committed to their growth preference.

Although the strategy’s growth-oriented approach faced persistent stylistic headwinds between 2021 and 2023, its long-term track record remains strong. We still believe it is an attractive China equity offering with many strengths.
 
Morningstar Medalist Rating™We remain confident in this strategy, though a few watch points exist.
To find out how Morningstar rates a fund click here.
Morningstar Pillars
PeopleAbove Average
ParentAbove Average
ProcessAbove Average
 
Morningstar Medalist RatingMorningstar assigns the Medalist Rating to funds that are qualitatively and quantitatively assessed through manager research and algorithmic processes. The assessment turns on three key “pillars” – People, Process, and Parent – that yield an estimate of how well a fund will perform before fees but after adjusting for risk.
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